After the Madrid meeting - The Socialist leader managed to be in Geneva, Strasbourg, Brussels, Copenhagen, Bonn, Athens, Melbourne and Madrid, opening the doors of European and world diplomacy - Ali Spahia—the only one who objected in Madrid—ranks Albania alongside Togo, Nigeria, Burma, Colombia, Honduras, Burundi and Indonesia! “This Fatos Nano must have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” “a political victory for Fatos Nano,” “full and unprece- [?] dented release for Fatos Nano,” “Fatos Nano is a thief, a criminal,” “let Fatos Nano get out of prison, because he’ll think of us; we’ve had enough of Berisha”—these were the first opinions heard on Tuesday, following the public announcement of yet another Resolution on the “Nano Case.” Between Spanish Madrid and Albanian Bënçë, Fatos Nano, head of the opposition and the Albanian Socialist Party, seems to be tearing open the gates of the prison that has held him since 30 July 1993. Lately, it is not Përparim Sanxhaku and Agim Tirana—the Albanian lawyers for Mr. Nano—but UPI, the World Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the “guardian angels” of Fatos Nano, who have come to his aid. One of the world’s most prestigious organizations voted late on Saturday—in a meeting in Madrid—a second Resolution on the “Albanian Nano Case,” after first approving the special report of the “Mission” led by Ms. Meier, chair of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, and the report of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. These reports challenge the prejudices and violations of criminal and legal procedures and of international conventions by the Albanian judicial authorities. “Review the proceedings against Mr. Nano” was the main point of the latest Resolution, which was forwarded to the Albanian authorities—who are holding Fatos Nano hostage—along with a very important conclusion from Ms. Meier’s report: The delegation was unable to dispel the doubts that the Committee and Council had expressed about the trial itself. In this regard, the concept of a continuing crime remains highly questionable, particularly the cause-and-effect relationship between Mr. Nano’s actions and the alleged damage, which has not been conclusively proven, and the trial failed to prove that Mr. Nano intended to cause such damage. At the request of the imprisoned Socialist leader himself, evidence supporting his innocence has been sent to all the member parliaments of the UPI. It was the delegates of these parliaments who voted for this Resolution, and they will also be the ones to officially approach the Albanian authorities—after the Resolution has been considered by their own parliaments—with a request to respect the Resolutions on the “Nano Case” and his parliamentary freedoms and rights. Several parliaments—including those of Australia and Greece—have already done so.

In last night’s televised debate: Luan Malltezi is not unknown to the public. Although he is a historian, no one knows him as one. Quiet and just as mediocre, he got by reasonably well during the one-party regime, only to emerge during pluralism as a blind loyalist of the Democratic Party—a loyalty he carried to the point of scandal, as if swept up from the archive, where he is director general, along with around 2,000 pages with which he was caught red-handed at Rinas Airport. But he displayed his devotion to his party, and especially to Berisha, with unprecedented zeal, becoming even more ridiculous last night in the televised debate broadcast late in the evening by Television, in the role of a compliant henchman against Namik Dokle, deputy chairman of the Socialist Party and chairman of its parliamentary group. This is certainly not the place to analyze his in-law connections with Mr. Berisha, but the shameful, nepotistic way he was set against a party deputy and leader is truly grotesque and utterly astonishing. The presidential kitchen, which endlessly churns out scenarios to eliminate political opponents, made an even worse mistake this time by serving up its own concoction not only with Berisha Cëla but also with a person like Luan Malltezi. Not only is there no substance to the accusations against Namik Dokle, but even if everything said against him were true, Sali Berisha had no reason to implicate his own in-law in such a vulgar way, thereby proving to the entire Albanian public that this is all personal revenge. Atavistic resentments and bayraktar appetites reached their peak last night, putting even the self-proclaimed state television at their service. Since the debate was broadcast late in the evening, there was not enough time to present our position on it in today’s newspaper. You can read that position tomorrow; but even without it, seeing Sali Berisha’s daughter’s hostility toward Namik Dokle, people understand everything.

— PROTEST BY THE PRESIDIUM OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF THE BERAT DISTRICT — The Presidium of the Socialist Party of the Berat district protests against the psychological, political and physical violence that some employees of the Berat branch of Internal Affairs continue to inflict on elected officials, members and supporters of the SP. protests against the psychological, political and physical violence that some employees of the Berat branch of Internal Affairs continue to inflict on elected officials, members and supporters of the SP. A disgraceful, humiliating and flagrant act took place on 3 April 1995 during a lawful activity, when a police van carrying five officers used violence and terror against the SP zonal council of the Posh[n?]je area and beat Neim Kaleci, chair of the SP zonal council, Veli Toska and Petref Sula, members of the SP zonal council, causing them serious injuries to the head and body. The other meeting participants were dispersed amid vulgar insults and threats. To justify the flagrant intervention, the police took Neim Kaleci and Veli Toska to the Internal Affairs branch, where they held them for three hours and fined them as disturbers of the public peace. We emphasize that it is (Continued on page 5)

Last month, a team from the Ministry of Justice conducted an inspection at the Korçë court. Well-informed sources say the inspection focused on the time limits for hearing criminal and civil cases and found a host of flagrant violations in this regard. Strict disciplinary measures are expected in the forthcoming conclusions. It is known that this court has been without a presiding judge for six months, ever since its former president, Lami Qirjilla, was arrested for abuse of office.

It happened on Sunday, April 2, 1995, at around 2 p.m. Newspaper vendor Lutfi Daci demonstratively burned 17 pages from the inside of the newspaper «Zëri i popullit». According to this person’s own statement, pressure was exerted by the director of the public service, Ilir Gazeli, to dismiss the newspaper vendor from his job, and a reward of 1,000 new lek was offered by the secretary of the DP, Petraq Hamiti, and the Municipality’s lawyer, Dhimo Naçi.

In the Tirana Court: The life of the young Stiljan Menkula was cut short before he had turned 17, a full 15 months ago. It was January 18, 1994, when the pellets from the çiftë that Elvin Skëndo was carrying without a permit tore through the body of the 17-year-old, the younger son of Nevruz Menkulasi, who would close his eyes forever two days later. «Meksi’s son-in-law—defending the killer», the newspaper «Aleanca» wrote at the time, revealing that the killer, who is the son of Prof. Petrit Skënda, is also the son of the Prime Minister Meksi’s first cousin. Tuesday, April 4, 1995 (Continued on page 5)

Yesterday, too, the People’s Assembly held a plenary session. The agenda included discussion and approval of draft laws such as the abolition of the turnover tax on chemical fertilizers, the law on fishing, amendments to the law on housing privatization, and the ratification of agreements. Protection of water resources was enshrined through ratification of the law on fishing, which aims not only to protect them from damage, but also to develop and expand fishing as a source of food and income for our country. Meanwhile, the amendments to the law on housing privatization sought to postpone it until the end of the year. Afterwards, the agreements between the Albanian and German governments on entrepreneurial activity, and the Treaty of Friendship between Albania and France, were ratified. The work of the People’s Assembly will continue this morning in a plenary session, starting at 10:00. Correspondent of «Zëri i popullit»

From the speech by deputy Maqo Lakrori The government’s delay in presenting this draft budget constitutes a breach of its legal obligations for the normal functioning of the state, demonstrates a lack of economic vision at the highest levels of government even after 3 years in office, and entails administrative disorganization. Messrs. Meksi and Vrioni presented their terse statements to the deputies and briefly justified the merits of this draft with a prefabricated formula such as: «This is all this country can afford». Yet the senior government officials said very little to explain: «Why only this much?» The very size of this budget, without even examining its structure, leads us to think about the government’s capacity to develop the country’s economic resources (I have in mind the activation of existing resources, the better use of aid and loans received over these 3 years, the creation of banking infrastructure conditions so that foreign currency coming from our emigrants is invested in the country and does not end up outside Albania, and so on). The funds earmarked in the draft budget for maintaining and developing education, science, technology, art, culture, sports, and generally those structures that society needs in order to build the country’s mental and intellectual potential (across the full range and quality levels—from preschools to scientists and artists) are significantly inadequate. The consequences in these sectors, vital to the development of Albanian civilization and our international integration as a partner of European standing, are already serious today, are causing harm, and will continue to weigh on Albania in the future. As evidence and illustration, I will take the field of education, and indeed focus on just two indicators: investment and salaries. Our country’s education system has around 2,650 kindergartens and nurseries, 1,770 primary and eight-year schools, 480 secondary schools, 7 universities and two other civilian higher-education schools. This system serves 720,000 preschool children, pupils and students, and employs approximately 56,500 teachers, lecturers and support staff. As is also apparent from studies by the relevant state bodies today, more than 80 percent of the (Continued on page 5)

Statement by the Presidium of the KD of the PS in Tepelenë district Following the conclusion of the audit carried out by the State Audit Service at the Municipality of Tepelenë, a document dated 6.3.1995 and sent to Mr Aleksandër Meksi, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and Mr Njazi Kosovrasti, State Secretary for Local Government, calls for the dismissal of the Mayor, Mr Skënder Hasa. Article 32 of the Law «On the organization and functioning of local government» clearly stipulates: «The Chairman of a Commune or Municipality may be dismissed by decree of the President of the Republic, upon a reasoned proposal by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, when he commits acts contrary to the Constitution or serious violations of the law or public order.» However, in the ten points of the Audit Service’s document, apart from some shortcomings of a procedural nature and deficiencies in the work of the administration, there is no mention in any instance of acts contrary to the Constitution, package withdrawals, or serious violations of the law or public order; nor is there any mention of corruption or embezzlement. Under these circumstances, the chief auditor (?) and our Deputy (?) Mr Blerim Cela, who has taken it upon himself to drive [him] out of Tepelenë, has urged and proposed to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers that the President of the Republic be asked to set in motion the process for new elections for Mayor. Mr Blerim Cela, who has «observed» the successive events in Tepelenë, especially the witnesses and the preparation and staging of the infamous rally calling for the mayor’s removal, is using his request for Mr Skënder Hasa’s dismissal as Mayor to politically attack the Socialist Party in Tepelenë and take this town to an election for another mayor. You have miscalculated, Mr Blerim! Even if you manage to take Tepelenë to an election, if the Prime Minister and the President take your proposal into consideration, we assure you that the Socialist Party will win in Tepelenë. (The vote was held earlier.)

Concert by the group “Djemtë e Detit” The Lezhë youth group “Djemtë e detit” gave concerts on two consecutive nights, including last night, at the “Republika” cinema in the city of Shkodër. They were also joined for the performance by the popular comedian Nexho Shabani. The musical and comic performances were warmly received by the audience in attendance.

This report was approved by the Committee and Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the Madrid Conference (Read on pages 3–4)