— Documents are presented accusing Defence Minister Safet Zhulali — Deputies Perikli Teta and Arben Imami of the Democratic Alliance held a press conference yesterday at their party’s headquarters. As they explained, it was prompted by the fact that they had not been given the floor during the interpellation held the previous day in Parliament with Prime Minister Meksi and Defence Minister Zhulali. At the start of the press conference, a statement by the deputies concerning government corruption and its responsibility for covering up this corruption through violence and insults was read out. Then Deputy Imami presented documents to journalists that, he said, proved the direct involvement of the government, and in particular the Ministry of Defence, in the illegal arms trade and in involvement in cigarette smuggling. Since we were denied the right to make these documents public in Parliament, Imami said, we are obliged to present them to public opinion through the press and also to make them available to Albanian justice. We have complete files on all the matters—the arms trade and cigarette smuggling, he said. He first presented documents concerning the arms trade using the ship «Vela Luka». These were customs documents showing that materials from the Mjekës and Polican factories had been exported through the port of Durrës, including military materials such as TNT, gunpowder, exogenous explosive, and «cast-iron bodies», which in fact are nothing other than artillery shells. They were sent with the port of Koper in Slovenia as their destination. One such document is dated 11.6.92; Ilir Kodra signed on behalf of the Deputy Minister for Economic Relations with Foreign Countries, granting permission to export these types of goods. We also have the document showing that these goods left Durrës customs on that same date. We have the copy of the export declaration for customs, dated 11.9.1992, with departure from Albania and arrival in Slovenia. These transactions were carried out by the company «Kastrio», represented by Mr Gasper Isaku, Mr Ajdin Sejdia’s chief associate in Albania. It should be noted that on this declaration the customs clearance invoice was marked «Ekstra», which may mean that it was not registered. We have a record of this ship’s arrival, according to the Durrës maritime agency’s records, on 12.10.92; it had 28 empty containers. This relates to 1992. The year 1993 begins with authorizations from Mr Zhulali, who on 3.2.1993 issued authorization No. 3/2 in the register, authorizing the Chemical Plant, Military Unit 659, Mjekës, Elbasan, to export the following materials to Croatia through the company «Kastrio»: 40 tons of TNT, 20 tons of gunpowder, experimental gunpowder samples, and 5 tons of exogenous explosive. This authorization was valid until 28.2.1993. Thus, the authorization specifies export to Croatia, whereas the customs clearance document says something different. There is another authorization from Mr Zhulali, dated 23 February, authorizing the military unit in Polican to export to Croatia through the company «Kastrio» the following materials: «cast-iron bodies with stabilizer, 120 millimetres, 30 pieces». In plain language, these «cast-iron bodies» are called shells. Another customs clearance document records the shipment of materials from Elbasan, weighing 170 tons and marked «tax-free». The declared destination was Koper, Slovenia. The customs clearance, carried out on 4 February, bears only one customs officer’s signature. The goods, calculated in dollars, amount to 357 thousand dollars. All the above paperwork was completed on 2 February, when Zhulali issued the order. These documents confirm that military materials left Albania through Durrës. But we have a letter from the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia, signed by Franc Kunei of the National Customs Administration of Slovenia and dated 28.6.1993. It refers to UN sanctions against the former Yugoslavia and Montenegro and provides information about the ship «Vela Luka». The letter says that the ship «Vela Luka» unloaded no cargo of any kind at Koper during 1992. It gives the dates on which the ship arrived at and departed from the port of Koper on the same day, without cargo. According to this information, the ship entered and left the port of Koper several times with empty containers. On one occasion the ship entered the port carrying cargo but departed without unloading it. According to further information from the Slovenian official, in 1993 up to June the ship «Vela Luka» never entered the port of Koper, although Albanian customs documents record several departures for Koper carrying military materials. The question that arises in this case, Imami said, is: Where did these weapons shipped from Albania to Slovenia go? Without a doubt, these weapons reached the area covered by the United Nations resolution imposing an embargo. The ship «Vela Luka» was once intercepted by NATO forces enforcing the embargo against Serbia and Montenegro in the Adriatic Sea, carrying 100 «Kalashnikov» automatic rifles which (Continued on page 3)

The SPPA delegation, led by SPPA Deputy Chairman Dr. Servet Pëllumbi and comprising SPPA Deputy Chairman Ilir Meta, deputies Prof. Dr. Ethem Ruka and As. Prof. Anastas Angjeli, and SPPA Presidium member Arta Dulla, successfully concluded the meetings it held from 29 January to 2 February 1995 at the European Parliament and the European Union in Brussels, and returned home today. SPPA Press and Information Office.

Regarding TVSH’s announcement in its 4 p.m. news bulletin of 2 February 1995, according to which SPPA deputy Anastas Angjeli is his wife after took part in a rally organized by Vorio-Epirote circles in Athens, the SPPA spokesperson is authorized to state: This news is entirely false and intended to provoke, because the public already knew that the SPPA KD member and People’s Assembly deputy Anastas Angjeli was a member of the SPPA delegation that held a series of meetings Parliament and the European Union in Brussels, during which time his wife was in Tirana. This announcement is a continuation of RTV’s scandals and irresponsible disinformation targeting public figures and political personalities from opposition forces. Tirana, 3.2.1995

— Procedural irregularities in the trial of Fatos Nano — According to a report by the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Department of State publishes a report on human rights every year. The report also covers Albania and describes in detail a number of cases in which these rights have been violated. The State Department’s 1994 report notes that Albania continues its efforts to establish a democratic society, but serious human rights violations still occur in the country. The police continue to beat detainees, sometimes causing their deaths. The report mentions the case of Fatos Nano several times, in connection with a number of restrictions. The ethnic Greek community continues to face discrimination, particularly in education and religious affairs, the report further states. The report says there have been no reports of political killings or disappearances. Prisons in Albania do not meet acceptable international standards and have no regulations defining prisoners’ rights and freedoms. Prisoners held on criminal charges are often denied contact with their families during the investigative stage. The report nevertheless says that the Albanian justice system does not The 1994 State Department report emphasizes but that significant mentions several times the case of the five OMONIA members convicted by the Albanian courts; it says that their arrest, the searches of their homes, their pretrial detention and their trial were accompanied by serious shortcomings. As regards procedural matters, the government continues to restrict freedom of the press by bringing Albanian journalists to trial for allegedly insulting state officials or for revealing state secrets to the public and others. The President later pardons every journalist. The report goes on to state that, with regard to freedom of assembly, there exist—... ... political [grounds] or for the disappearance of persons. lack qualified staff to safeguard often denied contact with their families during the investigation phase. The report also says that the Albanian justice system does not practice internment as a form of punishment or political control. The absence of a new Penal Code and Constitution has led government bodies to rely on laws dating from the communist era, apply the law in an unpredictable vacuum and, at times, together with procedural irregularities, deny people a fair trial. Returning to the case of the 5 Greek minorities, the report notes that their arrest, investigation and trial were not conducted in accordance (Continued on page 4)

Bulqizë The truncheon has begun — Arrests of striking miners. — After the small loaf offered to the striking miners by the leaders of the independent union «Leve e hapur në shërbim të pushtetit të PD-së», who had lived on water alone for five days, at level 8 the police truncheon was raised against them and is striking hard. The night before last, the prosecutor of the Bulqizë district announced on the television’s main news programme (via satellite) that criminal proceedings had been initiated against 10 miners. Yesterday, four people were placed in isolation in Peshkopi prison. Arrested in Bulqizë, they were taken to that town accompanied by a strong police escort. At the Peshkopi Public Order Department, which was hermetically closed to journalists, we were denied the right even to learn the names of those arrested. Nevertheless, we learned that among the four detainees were Munir Sinani and Gurja Dema, who had been held in isolation in Bulqizë since 31 January. The same sources also report that the other detainees have been sent to the notorious Burrel prison, which is also a high-security prison. A. ASHIKU

Sarandë STRIKE BY 220 WORKERS CALLED OFF For some time, disagreements had arisen between the union and the enterprise administration, especially over deadlines for signing the collective labour agreement, but also over issues relating to workers’ treatment, meals, dismissal without notice, warnings, and so on. The administration’s lack of fairness (there is also [unclear] on the part of the Albanian side’s representative) and the workers’ [unclear] led the workers to leave their jobs and declare a strike that lasted seven days. The 220 workers forced the administration’s representatives to sit down at the negotiating table. The strike was called to resolve the workers’ demands: improvement of the collective labour agreement; dismissal as unlawful, dismissal as unlawful, of the representative of the Albanian side; reopening a new storeroom on the third floor of the building, which the administrator had converted into a dwelling; and other workers’ rights. At the request of the strike representatives, several meetings were organized between representatives of the authorities and political forces on one side and the enterprise representative (the administrator) on the other. The group of Socialist councillors in the municipal council also joined the discussions with the representatives of the strikers and the administration. It reviewed an issue and related matters that were to be considered at a municipal council meeting, which the parties to the dispute would also attend. It was the strikers’ persistence that compelled the mayor to announce the decision to suspend and dismiss the representative of the Albanian side, as well as the Greek-side representative’s declaration that the storeroom converted into a dwelling would be vacated. The end of the strike was only a compromise, the strikers’ representatives say. We have set deadlines for meeting our demands. Everything remains open. PANAJOT ZOTO

Laç A Socialist Party activist is wounded On February 2, at around 7:00 p.m., near his home in the San-nxhak neighborhood of the city of Laç, Anton Kola, chairman of the PS in this neighborhood and a socialist activist in the Kurbin district, was wounded. As he was going home accompanied by someone, a person carrying a weapon suddenly appeared in front of him and pointed it at him, while another person struck him on the head from behind, inflicting serious injuries. Dr. Lulzim Zefi, who is treating the injured man at Laç hospital, called the police, but they showed no concern about the incident—not during the night, nor in the early morning hours. Correspondent for «Zëri i popullit»

Bread sellers will be thrown out onto the street Yesterday, a group of women who work in Tirana’s bread shops came to the newspaper’s editorial office again. They brought with them the concerns of around 50 of their colleagues from Tirana, as well as those of all the women selling bread in these outlets throughout Albania. After a whole letter about their work, after the «democratic» state kept them in its service throughout the crisis and transition, even putting them face to face with the people on difficult days, serving the people’s most vital need—their bread—from ten thousand until late in the evening, after many, many promises that democracy and the market economy would reward them for their efforts and make them and their colleagues who had applied at the markets owners of these shops. The Tirana Municipality, they said with deep anger and indignation, has decided that these shops should be given to the former landowners. They rightly asked the president, the government and the Tirana Municipality: where are their promises to make those who worked—the ordinary people, the sellers—owners? Why, in the name of former owners and the persecuted, are other sections of the population dispossessed, persecuted and discriminated against? Have the landowners not already been compensated by the sale of the apartment buildings, on whose ground floors the shops are located? And furthermore, why should those who, with the securities they have been given, can buy even ships and factories become the owners of these shops? Why should the victim of this unjust policy (Continued on page 3)

— Statement by the Presidium of the PS of Pogradec district — The people of Pogradec are well acquainted with the many actions of the former head of public order, Mr. Pellumb Korfuz-i, in the name of establishing peace and order in this city. For a long time we have awaited justice’s decisions on the many complaints against him, including intentional wounding, beatings and violations of human rights. There are many such cases, but for the public we recall only a few. 1. Mass beatings and injuries inflicted on farmers in Hudënisht municipality. 2. The wounding and lynching of councilor Zihni Pollovshina and his detention in violation of the law. 3. The beating and insulting of the employee (Continued on page 2)

DR. LUAN HAJDARAGA: The Socialist Party considers honest Albanian businesspeople to be promoters of the development of our economy. — The PS promises to break Albania’s isolation and bring about its integration into European structures as a worthy partner, not as a recipient of aid. — For all the Socialist Party leaders from the districts of Korçë, Kolonjë, Pogradec and Devoll who took part in the meeting held on Thursday in the city of Korçë with Luan Hajdaraga, deputy chairman of the Socialist Party, the period to date has been characterized as highly successful for the Socialist alternative. This is because it is gaining an ever wider presence and support in these districts. The results of the November 6 referendum, the many new members, predominantly young people, as well as growing interest—especially among the intelligentsia—in learning about the Socialist Party’s program are indicators of this. The heads of the leading committees stressed the need to plan effective work for the future to avoid routine, so that the achievements to date can be fully put to use for the success of the next election campaign. The meeting also noted that there are many ways to increase the effectiveness of the party’s work, but they must be used rationally. In his speech, Luan Hajdaraga said that it is now clear to everyone that victory and the future belong to the party that has consolidated organizational structures: Only in this way (Continued on page 3)

Chairman of the Socialist Party’s privatization commission