The rampant corruption that has engulfed all the state and party structures of the Democratic Party has placed the very existence of this party in serious danger. The thousands [?] of honest people who joined it because they aspired to true democracy, social justice, and a politics of honesty and professionalism are becoming disillusioned and leaving it day by day. This betrayal is so great that within the leadership caste there are contradictions which, it seems, cannot be resolved through concessions, but through mutual and harsh accusations. It is enough to recall here the accusations and counter-accusations between the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office, the walnut-wood case, the Greek tractors case, the illegal privatization cases, and, finally, the Arsidi case, in which the highest heads of today’s politics are being implicated. In such a situation, when all the structures of this state are confused and faced with total mistrust, the idea put forward by the Socialist Party of holding early elections is gaining ground and increasing support. The disillusioned and embittered masses find in this idea hope to continue their struggle and efforts, and to preserve their belief that Albania, too, will finally be able to join the democratic countries, and that order and law, honesty and professionalism will be established here as well. (Continued on page 2) ... [The text continues with fragmented and garbled material concerning emigration, the absence of domestic production, social life, meetings by Namik Dokle and Ibrahim Baci in Ksamil and Sarandë, the Democratic Party, privatizations, the Constitution, and a court hearing. The source text is damaged and disordered.] ... Serious emigration, domestic production is almost nonexistent, social life is in ruins. Naturally, tourist complexes and villages cannot be built in three years. Perhaps the first ferries and ships cannot be bought. The lack of luxury hotels may be understandable, but how can the condition in which things are left to decay be explained? These are the hardships and problems, as well as the concerns of all the many Socialists here, that make Comrade Namik Dokle’s meetings—he is deputy chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania and chairman of its parliamentary group, accompanied by MP Ibrahim Baci—large and engaging. The people like sharp-witted, eloquent polemicists. To hold its meetings today, since rallies are no longer possible, the Democratic Party gathered people with signatures, orders and threats that they would be fired. The Democratic Party can barely gather people, whereas people come on their own to Socialist Party events, as happened the day before yesterday and yesterday in Ksamil and Sarandë. “The meetings we held,” said Namik Dokle, “are a commitment by all the Socialist Party structures to confront the difficult situations arising from the crisis of the Democratic Party, its government and its ...” ... Berisha does not respond to calls for resignation; he prefers dismissals. The privatization carried out by the Democratic Party is nothing but plunder: hotels, enterprises and other state works, worth a barber shop, are handed to the party’s chosen people, while dozens and hundreds of people who have sweated their whole lives there are pushed aside and left empty-handed. ... The judges of the court are excluded when their independence and the delivery of a just ruling are called into question. According to Mr. Sanxhaku, Article 114 of the Criminal Procedure Code states that “a request for recusal is made before the ruling is announced or when the grounds for suspicion arise.” Sanxhaku said, “The Court of Appeal has no binding power to change the convictions of the trial panel. Therefore,” he continued, “I request your recusal from further consideration of the case.” After a 20-minute recess, Judge Çeliku issued an interim ruling confirming the single-judge composition of the panel chaired by Andi Çeliku. “The Court of Appeal’s statements apply only to the hearing,” he said. Thus, the trial panel had expressed its conviction that its assessment of the defendants’ case would be fair. (Continued on page 2)

Meetings of Comrade Namik Dokle with the people in Ksamil and Sarandë Ksamil and Sarandë are a marvel. That is what the Democratic Party promised it would make all Albania into at its beginnings. More than four years have passed since those promises and three years of its rule. You can judge them by seeing how these human treasures have been treated and reduced to their present state. Ksamil is a beauty being killed. The many people gathered at the meeting looked poor and burdened by hardship. Still without land, without water, faced with acute demographic problems, with devastation, fires and the cutting down of citrus groves and olive groves. Something unforgivable, both today and for future generations. This has happened over these four years. Sarandë itself has benefited very little from free enterprise, its natural advantages, or its distinct position as a border area. It is suffering a severe hemorrhage of emigration; domestic production is almost nonexistent, and social life is burdened. be justified? These are the hardships— ... of Berisha’s regime. The prospects for democracy in Albania were as open as they had been at the beginning, but the Democratic Party did not know how to manage them well. At the last press conference Berisha said the Democratic Party had fulfilled 90 percent of its program, but all you need to do is look at life today to be convinced that statements like these are untrue. He lives in 22 March 1992. He was the first to start the election campaign, but he started it backwards. The Democratic Party’s test is over, and it came at great cost to the people. A state cannot be held together by two fingers. The Selami affair best expresses the political crisis that party is experiencing. With his proposal to combine the functions of party chairman and prime minister, Selami was challenging the choice Berisha made on 22 March and the domination he exercises over everyone, but this kind of domination can no longer be repeated in Albania. Berisha himself chose to be head of state, not head of government, as is normal in a pluralist system. In this way he dragged and continues to drag the Democratic Party along, constantly tripping up the government and others, confusing their powers and harming the interests of ... [?] Albania. ... [?] Albania. ... the presidential institution. Berisha does not like resignations; he likes whole lives there are pushed aside and left empty-handed. ... not even the firms of the world, now that it has become internationalized. In the best years, bilateral trade reached ... (Continued on page 2)

The President of Romania, Ion Iliesku, arrives in Tirana today for an official visit. He will meet with Albanian President Sali Berisha and discuss bilateral relations, the situation in the region, etc. President Iliesku is accompanied by the foreign minister, Teodor Meleshkanu, the education minister, the head of the Romanian Development Agency, and a number of businesspeople. An agreement in the field of education is expected to be signed, and relations between the two countries in trade exchanges and economic cooperation are expected to receive a boost, as is also indicated by the participation of Romanian businesspeople. Procedures for the exchange of instruments of ratification of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, signed last year by the two presidents in Bucharest, are also expected to be expedited. Albanian-Romanian relations have been characterized by traditional friendship and, even during periods of political change, have maintained a good level of economic and trade cooperation. In the best years, bilateral trade reached figures of up to 100 million dollars, while last year it amounted to 4.2 million dollars. Romanian President Ion Iliesku was born on 3 March 1930 in Oltenia, south of Bucharest. He graduated in electrical engineering in Bucharest and specialized in Moscow. He began his professional career as an engineer in 1955 at the Institute of Energy Engineering in Bucharest. During 1979–1984, he chaired the National Water Council. In 1984–1989 he worked as the director of a printing house in Bucharest, until 22 December 1989. In 1948, he was one of the founders of the Association of United Students of Romania’s Institutes of Higher Education. In 1956 he founded the Union of Romanian Student Associations. In the 1960s he again supported a policy of defending the country and its independence and sovereignty in relation to the former USSR. During the extraordinary session of the Romanian Parliament in August 1968, he publicly condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia by troops of the former Warsaw Pact and called for Romania to withdraw from that Pact. In 1971, when he served for six months as secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, he opposed Ceaușescu’s political line on the cultural revolution and the growth of Ceaușescu’s cult of personality. This led to his removal from the senior political stage of Romania at the time, until he reappeared in the early hours of the Romanian Revolution on 22 December 1989. He led the National Salvation Front. On 22 December 1989, through radio and television, Iliesku addressed the Romanian nation in a statement, definitively setting out the new political, economic and social direction for overthrowing the communist system and establishing political pluralism. (Continued on page 2)

Gjirokastër Activities for

“The decoration for Arsidi is more than ‘influence peddling’ - The court ordered that Arsidi, Simon and Piacolli be heard - Lawyers ask the court to hear Mekshin, Çela, Bendo and Jean-Paul Carteron - The Albanian state has never been interested in finding the money. The conspiracy is extensive! Although public opinion is being forcefully and violently shaped to create the impression that “the Dokle case is the biggest financial scandal uncovered,” the Arsidi case is the one that has captured the attention of the Albanian public and media, calling for silence and attention while attacking the efforts made by the EU to ... [?]. In any case, it is not so simple. It is “Arsidi”—more precisely, the “case”—and what happened with the hands, pockets and lottery instruments of officials connected with him that gives rise to suspicion about these pressures and violent controls ... If there was a section until now—the handcuffs ... Do it for the regime ... “Corroz Fran...” Mr Do... The case called “influence peddling” a few days ago—showed at the beginning of the proceedings that it is more than influence peddling. THE ÇELIKU TRIAL PANEL WILL RULE AGAINST ITS OWN CONVICTION. Yesterday’s hearing opened at around 9:25 with Judge A. Çeliku reading Court of Appeal decision no. 93 of 27 February 1995. After this reading, which took some time, Mr Çeliku said: “The Court of Appeal’s decision is clear; we will proceed on this basis.” Lawyer Sanxhaku then said: “I do not agree! According to Articles 114, 115? 756? of the date 20. 4. 1992—for some amendments to the Constitution in the Constitutional Provisions law ... it states that ‘a judge is disqualified of the Criminal Procedure Code also Andi Çeliku. “The Court of Appeal’s statements apply only at be fair. THE LAWYERS ASK FOR ALEKSANDËR MEKSIN, BLERIM ÇELEN, AGIM BENDON, ARSIDI, SIMON, CARTERON, PIACOLLI AS WITNESSES. The hearing continued with the lawyers’ requests to question other witnesses. Lawyer Sanxhaku, arguing his requests, said he wanted Arsidi to be questioned as a witness before the panel of judges or even in Paris, because questioning him there was almost ... (Continued on page 2)

In an atmosphere noticeably improved by the talks in Tirana and the averting of Saturday’s incident from affecting Albanian-Greek relations, several events were organized in Gjirokastër in recent days. On the morning of the 23rd, in the town hall, the Gjirokastër branch of the Omonia organization held a meeting at which journalist Mihal Naci spoke. Students from the Greek-language department recited poems and danced and sang traditional dances. On the afternoon of the 24th, the Gjirokastër branch of the Albania-Greece Friendship Association held a meeting in the theater hall, where journalist Odise Kote spoke. Last night, 25 March, the Greek consul in Gjirokastër, Mr Vasil Bornova, hosted a reception at the “Çajupi” hotel, attended by members of parliament, representatives of the authorities, political parties and associations, members of the press, and many citizens. Correspondent of “Zëri i popullit”

Good work in trade In complete contrast to the previous two years, the market for livestock and food products in Korçë has improved considerably. It now operates as a separate complex, with enclosed, functional premises that are suitable in terms of space. The producers of these products feel more secure, while inspection staff also find their work easier as they try to prevent expired or smuggled products from entering the market. Humanitarian association has employed 550 workers LVIA is a well-known humanitarian organization based in Italy. It has been active in Shkodër for a long time. Its representatives in the city said that they have regularly helped 750 families from the city and the countryside. But, they stressed, our work has focused mainly on carrying out certain projects of public interest. For this purpose, they said, 550 workers have been employed. 60 students expelled from Laç high school This was confirmed by the principal of the general secondary school in the town of Laç, Mr Mark Zima. Sixty students have been expelled within just a few months. Asked about the reasons for this measure, the principal cited some of them: little interest in school, unexcused absences, and even failure to meet students’ basic obligations. “Are we dealing with the same thing as the enforcement of the school regulations by the administration?!” Devoll without an enforcement office Although two years have passed since it became a new district, equipped with all the structures of local government, Devoll still has ... The court is functioning, but the enforcement office is missing. As a result, many court decisions ... remain unenforced. The question is: who is responsible for enforcing the fines?