: POLITICAL VICTIMS OF POLICE MACHINATIONS - Yesterday in the Tirana Court: Fatmir Kumbaro, Bilal Semanaj, Ilir Ismailati, Seit Këndella, Shefki Çupe. - Shefki Çupe is declared innocent. The trial of Seit Këndella is postponed until Monday. Trifon Kona and Hamdi Alikaj did not appear before the court. - Of the 5 witnesses presented by the prosecution, only one testified that Fatmir Kumbaro had been among the crowd directing it. This testimony was called into question by several clarifying questions from Fatmir Kumbaro. As for Bilal Semanaj, none of the 5 witnesses gave a reason for his being in the dock. - 7 other witnesses stated that they had seen Fatmir Kumbaro in «Skënderbej» Square and in front of the PS headquarters, dispersing the people. Among them were MPs Bashkim Zeneli and Leontiev Çuçi. - Bashkim Zeneli: «Twice I asked Colonel Safet Stafa to give me a megaphone, and he told me there wasn’t one. At the same time, the other MPs, including Fatmir Kumbaro, were also calling on people to disperse. We were on the same side as Fatmir Kumbaro in not allowing the people to confront the police». - The reports drawn up at police stations on the orders of the chiefs were rejected by the reports made during the investigation, which the witnesses stood by in the courtroom. - Martin Deda: His first trial: a trial of evidence, civic and legal conscience, or zeal to perform the «duty»? Yesterday, at around 9:30, jurist and journalist Martin Deda appeared before the panel of judges and prosecutor Bashkim Xhafa, along with Fatmir Kumbaro, a member of the PS leadership, accused under decree 7408 of being an organizer of the illegal rally of 30 July; Bilal Semanaj, 27, accused of participating in an illegal gathering; and Ilir Ismailati, a driver for the PS, accused of the same offense. All three defendants appeared before the court with defense lawyers. Following a request by defendant Fatmir Kumbaro to be questioned by the court as a witness, and the acceptance of Leontiev Çuç, Agasi Farudin Arapi and Bardhyl Agasi by the panel of judges, the judicial inquiry began with the questioning of witnesses. It emerged that they had not apprehended any of the defendants themselves; they had only escorted them to the police station after their colleagues, who had apprehended them, handed them over. Bilal Semanaj, Avdi Leka said, I did not see him at any point during the rally. I saw Fatmir Kumbaro only at the moment he was handed over to me to be escorted to the station, in front of the PS building. Dalip Pali said that Bilal Semanaj had been handed over to him to escort to the station near the Clock Tower, while he had not seen Fatmir Kumbaro at all. Neither witness knew Ilir Ismailati. The prosecutor noted discrepancies between the witnesses’ statements during the investigation and what they said in the courtroom; both witnesses said their reports had been drawn up at 4 a.m., without an act of flagrante delicto. It was also noteworthy that the complaints made at the police station were contradicted by the reports signed by these witnesses during the investigation, which they maintained in the courtroom. Maksim Kurti, a police officer at Station No. 5, stated as a witness that they had been assigned as an on-call unit on 30 July. We received an order by radio to dive… [text cut off at the bottom of the image] Both witnesses stated that the reports had been drawn up at 4 in the morning and that they might contain an error because of the great fatigue of the day. What stood out was that, at the police stations, these witnesses had made their complaints as people who had escorted them to the police station, even though in the reports they were with[?] All three defendants appeared before the court with defense counsel. Following defendant Fatmir Kumbaro’s request the court’s acceptance of the request, the judicial examination began with the questioning of witnesses, including Leontiev Cuci, Farudin Arapi, and Bardhyl Agasi. The prosecution presented police officers Avdi Leka, Dalip Pall, Maksim Kurti, Ermal Deliu, and Agim Gjoni as witnesses. Avdi Leka and Dalip Pali stated that they had been on duty at the «Dinamo» stadium and were then moved by order from «Skënderbej». He said[?] We were [unclear] at the international and cultural center. When the crowd came onto the boulevard, I noticed Fatmir Kumbaro at a distance, standing with his hands facing the crowd; I could not make out what he was saying because there was a lot of noise. I did not see him again after that moment. I did not see Bulal Semanajn at all that day. Asked by defense counsel why he had not stopped such an action when he saw it, the witness replied that our duty was to set up a roadblock, not to stop people. (Continued on page 4)

Italian aid at risk of being blocked The president’s spokesperson: Alessi is lying! ALESSI REITERATES THE ACCUSATION: IN THE INTERPELLATION I WILL PRESENT AN IRREFUTABLE DOCUMENT Italian aid at risk of being blocked «ALBANIAN STUDENTS OUTDO ITALIAN TEACHERS» The president’s spokesperson: Alessi is lying! ALESSI REITERATES THE ACCUSATION: IN THE INTERPELLATION I WILL PRESENT AN IRREFUTABLE DOCUMENT ANSA—Rome, 12 August. According to the spokesperson for Albanian President Sali Berisha, the statements by Democratic deputy Alberto Alessi concerning a «fraud» perpetrated by the Tirana government against the Italian government, which supposedly served to enrich the Democratic Party with a kickback of 300–400 thousand dollars, are «lies» about the head of state and the Tirana government. Alessi, rapporteur for the commission of inquiry into cooperation, which is due to meet in September, has submitted an interpellation to Foreign Minister Benjamin Andreatos, denouncing a «fraud» by Albanian government officials involving the late Xhuliano Amato and Andreatos’s delay. In the past, Tirana had in fact entrusted Amato and Andreatos with the task of negotiating the foreign debt without payment. The same task was secretly assigned to French businessman Nikolas Arsidi, who received a fee of 1 million and 200 thousand dollars and transferred 400 thousand dollars, intended for the Democratic Party’s electoral campaign, to a Swiss current account. Berisha’s spokesperson, in a statement circulated by the Albanian Embassy in Rome, asserts «that all these actions took place before the arrival and failure of the democratic government», that is, the socialist government of Albania. As for the 400-thousand-dollar kickback mentioned by Alessi in his denunciation, which the French businessman Arsidi allegedly deposited into a Zurich current account in the name of central bank governor Hoti to legally finance the PD, the insinuation is that it «guarantees» that no Albanian law was violated and that, in any case, the PD’s accounts are publicly open and available for any kind of verification. According to the Albanian president’s spokesperson, «polit... [text cut off] ...ically, the PD’s [account] is guaranteed» and no Albanian law was violated, while Alessi reiterates the accusation. ANSA. «When my interpellation to the Italian foreign minister, Senator Andreatos, is discussed in the Foreign Affairs Committee, I will present an irrefutable document». This was stated by deputy Alberto Alessi in a note circulated today, responding to statements by Albanian President Sali Berisha’s spokesperson. Deputy Alessi describes the Albanian head of state «as a well-known cardiologist of the old communist regime and nomenklatura». Confirming what I stated in the interpellation, Alessi added: As for my interests in covering up other scandals involving this cooperation, as rapporteur of the commission investigating cooperation, my interests are absolutely contrary to what President Berisha himself seems to claim: to establish the truth about Italian cooperation funds and those spent on Albania. [text cut off at the bottom of the image]

- The 50th anniversary of the creation of the First Assault Brigade of the Albanian National Liberation Army is commemorated. - Also present is Haxhi Lleshi, member of the General Staff and «Hero of the People». Yesterday, a commemorative jubilee meeting was held to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the First Assault Brigade of the Albanian National Liberation Army, the first large and organized unit of the NLA. Former partisans, family members of martyrs, and veterans, young men and women, also took part. Present was Haxhi Lleshi, member of the General Staff of the NLA and «Hero of the People». The opening speech was delivered by «Hero of the People» Ndreko Rino, while the commemorative address was given by the brigade’s former commissar, Arif Hasko, who spoke at length about the brigade’s military path, the arduous struggle[?] it waged under the country’s difficult conditions, and the patriots’ sacrifices. Myqerem Puga then spoke, conveying greetings on behalf of the National Committee of Veterans of the NÇL. Songs and gazeta[?] were performed by the TVSH artistic ensemble. The songs and dances were presented as part of the commemoration.

- A shameful fabrication that cannot cover up the scandal of the theft of 2,500 pages of archival material by Luan Malltezi and Nevilа Nika In all the news broadcasts, the entrances to Albanian Television were not blocked. On 9 August, the «courageous discovery» by the Director-General of the Archives, its director, concerning the concealment of files in the basements of the former Central Committee of the PPSH was broadcast. The building has been at the disposal of the Albanian Parliament, the Constitutional Court and several ministries for 13 months. Mr Malltezi’s excitement and haste as he pointed this out—he almost flew[?]—while the television cameras and journalists from TV Shqip-TV… were entirely at his service. But what came of all this… the general interest… were they always? An article in the newspaper «Zëri i Popullit» stated that the basement of the building… [the following text is unclear]. The new Minister of Finance… [the article continues with a polemic about the files and archival material] In all the news programs, the entrances from the telephone exchange and from the connecting corridor leading from the boiler room of the Ministry of Finance were not blocked. Another fact that draws attention is how the water got in where not even a mouse could get in?!... It is well known how the building of the Central Committee of the PPSH was maintained until the apparatus of the General Steering Committee of the Socialist Party—which had administered one third of the building until July 1992—was forcibly removed from it under strict police control. Those who entered, or others with an interest in the matter, not only had ample time to bring water in, but also to carry out a complete fabrication of everything they are now presenting, 13 months later. But neither these stale machinations nor the others being prepared with great care and malice under the instructions of the devil, whose beer-addled mind thinks only of evil, can divert the people’s attention from the hardships of daily life: poverty, the long queues for bread, and widespread police violence and repression. In this context, even our newspaper’s latest issue of «Zëri i Popullit», M. Malltezi, does not cover up the scandal of the theft of 2,500 pages of archival material, for which he must be held legally responsible, if only because they were removed from the archive from outside[?]. [continued]

- Ruli, Hoti, Xhyheri—members of the Socialist Party?! President Berisha is putting on a show when he tells journalists, in response to deputy Alessi, that «all financial transactions connected with the „Arsidi“ scandal took place before the Democratic Government came to power, that is, during the time of the PSSH Technical Government.» If the president, who is extremely busy, does not remember the protagonists and course of events, we consider it necessary to remind him. A Frenchman named Arsidi, as if sent by heaven, gives Mr Berisha a strange decoration, which he gladly accepts. What is this: a prologue to events to come? Setting aside all prejudice, this false decoration, irregular in procedure and publicized by the President, was accepted by him publicly as a political creed. Mr Ruli signed an agreement with Mr Arsidi on 8 June. If the signature of a minister in the «Meksi» Government does not count as evidence of authorship, then all that remains is to believe the doorman’s signature on the statement. The signature of the bank’s governor-general, Hoti, appears on almost all the agreements with Mr Arsidi. If his statement that these were forged signatures is true, there is no reason why he should not disclose the findings of the relevant expertise. Mr Xhyheri, a founder of the PD, signed a contract on 3 November to give Arsidi 1 million and 600 ... [?]

About the decoration and the statement concerning Arsidi The «ZP» spokesperson reports that the newspaper «RD», no. 144, dated 7 July 1992, published the following under the headline «President Berisha awarded the „French Courtesy“ prize»: - On 6 July, representatives of «French Courtesy», Messrs Nicolas Arsidi and Laurent Simon, presented Mr Sali Berisha with the «French Courtesy» prize, its highest decoration, at the Presidential headquarters. As representatives of «French Courtesy» announced, the prize was awarded to Mr Sali Berisha in recognition of the man who brought freedom to Albania, for what he has done for democracy, and for the aims of his activity, which were judged to be «among the noblest». The representatives of «French Courtesy», expressing their appreciation of the special wish to decorate the Albanian president, wished him all the energy necessary to lead Albania along the path of modern civilization. After noting that the «French Courtesy» prize had been awarded to such world figures as Sandro Pertini, the French gentlemen also mentioned the four basic principles for deserving this prize: benevolence, optimism, honesty and dignity. In his speech on the occasion, Mr Sali Berisha thanked his French friends for the special honor they had bestowed on him, recognizing him as a compassion[?] of Albania. Also present at the medal presentation ceremony were the Speaker of the People’s Assembly, Fletër Arbnori, and Prime Minister Za[?]