- Fatos Nano is kept in prison in the attempt to stifle an alternative of development, progress and understanding among Albanians - 30 July 1993 - 30 July 1995 TWO YEARS OF POLITICAL IMPRISONMENT FOR FATOS NANO - Fatos Nano is kept in prison in the attempt to stifle an alternative of development, progress and understanding among Albanians -

AFTER 2 YEARS Two years ago the chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania, Fatos Nano, was forcibly led to the cells by the police forces in the most arbitrary decision in the entire history of Albanian democracy. Tirana, 30 July 1993. On a hot summer day, with strong sun and clear weather, in the noisy and crowded capital city of Tirana and its buildings with the rare architecture of the Italian period, they gleamed. Only in front of the parliament building, for days a small group of police officers, brought from distant districts so they would not stand out from one another or know each other, stood there day and night. They had been brought there for a rather unusual “celebration”. Such was also the government propaganda. No public voice in the country had been concerned about what was about to happen. It was the culmination of a long and costly campaign that had begun with the seizure of the sack of rubbish under the offices of the prime minister, continued with the control of our institutions by experts urgently brought from America and who then sabotaged and made ridiculous 10 foreign lawyers paid with 500 thousand dollars of Albanian taxpayers’ money, with the help of a huge crate of documents transported by helicopter to Tirana, and ended with the next scandal involving a house, which turned out to be a pine forest. This smear campaign managed to leave Albanians with the Hamlet-like dilemma that he was no longer the chairman of a party, but a matter that had to be resolved. And so it happened. In the name of stability and the future of democracy, a political assassination was prepared and carried out. In the afternoon hours of 30 July, a police car stopped in front of the parliament. A little later, a person with a pale face, accompanied by two policemen, set off from there. It was Fatos Nano. It seemed to us as though he was leaving the parliament for the last time, before the police forces forcibly dragged him and brutally pushed him into the barred car. The door slammed shut loudly. The vehicle sped off toward the “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Boulevard, disappearing into traffic and raising dust like cars in American films. Meanwhile the many gazes on the surrounding sidewalks remained frozen. It was the arrest of the opposition chairman. (Continues on page 2)

The authorities are holding FATOS NANO hostage Rexhina Nano writes to the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Miguel Martinez The authorities are holding FATOS NANO hostage Dear Sir I thank you for your message through which I am assured that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is interested in my case and in the judicial process being conducted against me. I also thank you for the special care you show for my life and health. I assure you that as far as I am concerned, regardless of the physical condition, and especially the psychological one a person experiences after two years in prison, I feel ready to face every injustice with patience. I will not stop fighting for my right and for that of my family, which is becoming increasingly painful. Appreciating your interest, I think it is my duty to acquaint you with recent actions and facts that are forcing me to think that the aims of these developments are no longer related to my file, but concern an attempt by the authorities to eliminate me from the political life of Albania. Indeed, the developments of recent weeks are showing that it is entering a qualitatively new phase. In this context, the second trial being held against me will turn into a political grave. After the taking and publication of a statement that I sent on 28 July 1995, in the courtroom in Tirana, at the hearing of 28 July 1995, at which I made known my health condition, the new basis of my judicial process and the political persecution and two years of my imprisonment, in these two years our government has increased violence against me. First, I am being arbitrarily and in an organized way denied the right to medical treatment for the fight against tuberculosis. Second, great pressure is being exerted by the government, with the aim of moving the court from Tirana to the district of Burrel. This action by the government and by part of the judges is explained by the desire to judge me in secrecy and outside Tirana. For these purposes the prosecutor and the court unexpectedly brought to a hearing a few days ago a completely absurd complaint, concerning the fact that it had allegedly been unfair to transfer me, as a tuberculosis patient, from the Tirana prison to the prison-hospital of Tirana. Later they postponed the hearings in order to decide whether I should be sent back to the cell in Burrel. The third part of the government’s actions is linked to its determination to continue a dangerous smear campaign against me and my family. Through official positions and inaccurate information they seek to present to the Albanian and international public not the truth about my file, but fabrications and staged events. (Continues on page 2)

Expanded meeting of the capi- tal’s socialists Dr. Servet Pëllumbi, guest of honor at the meeting, declares: “On 30 July 1993, in the second court session of the SHP of the Assembly, we faced for the first time openly the political offensive of the chairman of the PDSH, Dr. Sali Berisha. If on 24 June 1992 the PDSH was voted for by 744 thousand citizens, on 26 July 1993, the scoundrels gathered in Skanderbeg Square were around 100 thousand people. It was only a fiery effort to declare to the Albanian people a state of war against the PSSH and democracy. So Mr. Berisha himself claimed with his terrible sentence that ‘We will crush the opposition of the country’... That was the signal of the catastrophe, which broke out with unstoppable force (for us, the largest democratic force in the future), as a form of counter-offense of our political power. From that day onward, the words of the chairman of the PSSH, Dr. Fatos Nano, would sound like one bomb, ignoring and accompanying the campaign in the name of the ‘fight against corruption’, declaring leaders of the PSSH ‘enemies’ of the nation, imprisoning and imprisoning PSSH leaders on absurd charges. Today, apart from the direct assessment of Nano’s arrest, we are convinced that the continuation of Albanian socialism is clear. We all know that the corruption accusations against Fatos Nano are unfounded. This has become quite clear in every judicial process and in every parliamentary session in which he took part. In all forums, invited and uninvited, he has been spoken of. More than anyone else, he possesses the truth and the right. As a political accusation, it is being used to carry out a policy that is in contradiction with all laws, with the constitution and with the democratic tradition. We think it is time for the voice to be raised for him, from every tribune and from every forum. (Continues on page 2)

About an article on contraband in the port of Durrës by going through the police in the veterans, as has been made known through an accusatory article under the honored signature of the deputy received with honor [...] and the “accusatory” article of the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit” (?)[…] however, since the name of a port serves as a judge of all this activity, there has emerged from the ranks of the port a harsh reaction to this article. It states that if a private entrepreneur has entered through the winning of a lawful tender and carries out his private activity, this cannot become a cause for a collective smear against the people who work honestly in the port. According to them, such an accusation without facts seriously damages the image of the institution and creates an unnecessary atmosphere of distrust. (Continues on page 2)

Vlora Discrimination against the largest organization of veterans Myftiu Xhemali, chairman of the Vlora Organization of Anti-Fascist Veterans, informed our newspaper that the lists of winners and of people lined up in order for housing show a clear tendency to favor certain individuals rather than veterans. Regarding this fact, on 16 June he sent a letter to the prefect, the chairman of the council and the minister of the interior, denouncing the actions of the housing commission in Vlora. In this response he calls on the central authorities to intervene urgently to restore order and avoid the rightful indignation of the veterans. G. TUSHI

reflects the crisis of governance reflects the crisis of governance (READ P. 3)

Reprint of the letter that “FATOS NANO sent to the Prosecutor General” The dragon’s voice! DO YOUR DUTY! Reprint of the letter that “FATOS NANO sent to the Prosecutor General” (READ ON P. 2)

(READ P. 3)