International reaction over the independence of the judiciary in Albania - Clear concern in the American administration - The Council of Europe will send two observers to Albania - The International Helsinki Federation sharply addresses the Albanian Minister of Justice Read on page 3 This photo published in the Albanian press was taken on the first day of the police siege of the Court of Cassation, a siege that everyone saw except those who ordered and carried it out. Today the siege has become more sophisticated and the police no longer stand there as they did on the first day. They have been replaced by others, in the civil police. If you want to test this, dare to go to the Court of Cassation.

Editorial - When people leave their homeland at any cost and by any means, it means they are disappointed by the government. The disaster came again from the sea. The exact number of those lost in the tragic, extremely tragic accident that occurred on a speedboat full of Albanians somewhere in the Adriatic is still unknown. It is about 10 or 15 young people who were swallowed by the waves. This is not the first time this has happened. Exoduses, mass departures from the country, especially of young people, have been companions of these years of transition. They say a lot. They show that our people want to live differently. They show how little future there is in their own country. Although all of Vlora, and not only that, is in mourning and lament can be heard far and wide, our officials have neither ears nor eyes. The official press, in the euphoria of President Berisha’s visit to America, cannot even find room to report this ominous news. Why this attitude, outside all human norms and our good traditions? Someone thinks that by reporting this black news the “festive” atmosphere of the head of state's visit is spoiled. Someone goes further in reasoning, saying that these mass departures from Albania, which have not ceased for a single day throughout the rule of the Democratic Party, are a huge slap in the face of the way the country is governed. And the messengers of justice. No country in the world today has near a satana e population of refugees, illegal, without papers, without any rights, like Albania. Does this count among the “major successes” of the reform? September is like the month of weddings. Their fruit is children. We all rejoice when a child comes into the world, but the sorrow is a hundred times greater when this child is sought by a better life or swallowed by the sea. The bodies of the unidentified victims of the tragic accident of the day before yesterday in the Adriatic are laid in the morgue in Lecce. How many Albanian families think that among them is also the body of their child? Although we are a small country, no one should be superfluous in Albania. It is ugly political arithmetic to try to present mass exoduses as an expression of the democratic spaces the country has achieved and of personal freedoms, at a time when people who are hopeless and without prospects are being sought to be removed. There are many of them. That is why this tragedy accuses.

Yesterday the deputy chairman of the Socialist Party, Dr. Servet Pëllumbi, received at the party headquarters the ambassador of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Tao Miao Fa, at the latter's request. During the meeting, views were exchanged regarding political developments in the country and the situation in the region. Also discussed were the possibilities for further development of friendly relations between the two countries. The meeting took place in a friendly spirit. The press and information office of the Socialist Party

In front of the opposition stands the state itself, with its many ranks. Yet it does not appear calm at all; it seems deeply shaken, very nervous, unrestrained, at every moment inclined to degenerate the political struggle into mistakes. The police at the gates of the Court of Cassation show very clearly that, as authors of the war of nerves, they are also turning into its victims. Read on page 2

Yesterday at midday the hearing of the criminal case against the deputy editor of the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit”, Luan M. Rama, concluded in the Court of Appeal, following his appeal against the decision of the Tirana trial court, which had found him guilty under article 25 of the Press Law and sentenced him to a fine of 100,000 new lek. After hearing the rapporteur of the case and after becoming familiar with the prosecutor’s report submitted in writing in the judicial file, the panel gave the floor to Luan M. Rama’s lawyer, Mr. Muharrem Kushe, who legally argued the innocence and unfoundedness of the accusation brought against him, ultimately requesting acquittal for the deputy editor of “Zëri i Popullit”. The panel also heard the defendant himself, who maintained the same position he had taken in the Tirana Court. Based on the materials in the judicial file and on the position of Luan M. Rama and his lawyer before the panel, the latter concluded that the elements of the criminal offense are lacking and therefore declared the deputy editor of the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit” innocent.

MOTOROLA RS Read on page 6