Strong denunciation by Zef Brozi against political power: Now we have become used to demands for lifting immunity. I don’t care what people think who day and night think only about how to dig another person’s grave and not about how to fulfill their constitutional and legal responsibilities. If this is a possible future reality, this will be, more than anything else, proof of how lightly some people take democracy in Albania, how much of a joke they make of it, and how serious this Albanian state of ours is, how much some people want, if possible, to leave the Council of Europe as soon as possible. Zef Brozi yesterday at the Press Conference (Photo: L. Lika REUTERS) Above, Sali Berisha, Chairman of the High Council of Justice

To come before Cassation The file on the “Nano Case,” which this time is “linked” to the setting of the new sentence on the basis of the newly entered-into-force Penal Code for the prisoner of conscience Fatos Nano, has traveled for more than 200 kilometers toward Tepelenë. Presl Martini, the Chairman of the Court of Appeals, ordered yesterday morning the sending of the Nano file to the Tepelenë Court of First Instance. Read on page 3

Day note Berisha spoke again. The distinctive thing about the latest “speech” is this: more than in all other cases, the offices of the Presidency were used to attack the Socialist Party, the largest opposition political party to the PD. Moreover, as never before, the Head of State cast himself in the role of the divider of this opposition party. Only in Albania, as a result of the remnants of Enverist ideology, according to which Albania must be a Guiding Beacon, is the legal opposition treated in this way. Another special case! Someone has characterized Berisha’s role in the current processes taking place in Albania — let no one misunderstand us about the comparison — as that of a “Lightning rod” for a newly inaugurated “Building.” In this case, the “Building” is the PD, while the “Lightning rod” is the President of the Republic. The “Building” may seem new, but mistakes were made from the moment its foundations were laid. It is shaking, it has already suffered many damages, it may crumble. The “Lightning rod” protects you from surprises coming from the sky, whereas the PD’s drama comes from below, from its disappointed electorate. Berisha either does not know all this, or he feels it, or he senses it. Let us not take a worse case, since only during this year the PD’s “successes” include the following: He was left without a chairman, because he “deviated” from the Party line. The “Arsidi” process, on the basis of which the President has a decoration on his chest, drags along with the scandal other corruption cases of this party. “Shqiponja” makes the law in the clandestine fuel traffic, and “Shqiponja” is a daughter of the PD. Zhulali has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bulgaria, and perhaps elsewhere too... A criminal has been made an honorary citizen, and people in police clothing, in state uniform, are increasingly appearing in the role of criminals. Open Albania — “fished” in the Adriatic, “dug into” at the southern border, “struck” at the north-eastern border. This is the balance sheet of the PD’s latest “victories,” which Berisha forgot. By mounting an entire campaign against the Socialist Party, Berisha is needlessly entangled in the revival he wants to give Marxism, an ideology now dead. At all costs, he asks it to take on itself the salvation of the lost honor of the PD. This “Lightning rod” role seeks to shift from people’s attention the drama of this party, its governing incapacity, corruption, and the undeniable dead end.

Servet Pëllumbi face to face with Sali Berisha At the request of our newspaper’s correspondent to comment on President Berisha’s remarks at the press conference the day before yesterday, the deputy chairman of the Socialist Party, Servet Pëllumbi, gave the following statement: “...They want to hear about everything that will be done regarding the incapacity of governance, mass and prolonged unemployment, crime, the plundering of national wealth, the exodus, trafficking that breeds dirty money, the ‘eagles...’ It was expected that the President of the Republic would hold a Press Conference about the extremely worrying events in the region, about the latest manifestations of the influx of Serb settlers in Kosovo, and would express the active political positions of our nation, regardless of party divisions. But no, it was not meant that we would hear a real Press Conference, because the whole ‘presidential concern’ was something else, to ‘prefabricate in black and white’ the PD’s ‘successes’ and the PS’s ‘failures.’ From this point of view, Berisha’s latest conference was something standard, rich in imitation and words and poor in ideas, not to say devoid of ideas. Many questions without answers. Many answers according to the principle: “where the tooth hurts, let the tongue not go.” The President has long been trying to perfect the method of manipulating people, with crude, one-sided or even fabricated data, as they come to him on Mount Dajti or on the shores of the Ionian Sea. He only errs when he thinks that Albanians can be fooled. It is no coincidence that when Berisha speaks about successes, people sense it and turn off their ears as well as their radios and televisions. They want to hear about everything that will be done regarding the incapacity of governance, mass and prolonged unemployment, crime, the plundering of national wealth, the exodus, trafficking that breeds dirty money, the “eagles” that send dollar accounts to Lichtenstein and elsewhere. Since for these and many, many other worries one word was not said, neither yesterday nor today, and with confidence it will not be said tomorrow by Berisha, then the conviction is strengthened that Berisha and the PD he represents as its chairman have no alternative. A truth that is circulating inside and outside the country.

Albania-Greece The Albanian Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi concluded his visit to Greece without reaching the signing of the agreement on the seasonal employment of Albanian workers in Greece, as had long been announced by both sides. According to the BBC, political and journalistic circles in Athens had been left without a common position when Minister Serreqi had interrupted the morning talks to continue them in the afternoon. But even for the afternoon, the long-awaited agreement was not reached. The issue that had blocked the talks and that seems to have caused the failure to sign the announced agreement was the Greek side’s insistence on opening more Greek schools in Albania. continues on page 11