Yesterday the police impounded all the vehicles belonging to the press distribution agency “Press transport.” The newspapers “Koha jonë,” “Gazeta Shqiptare,” “Lajmi i ditës,” etc. are not being distributed . The Democratic Party’s efforts to seize control of the newspaper “Koha jonë” are exposed

Text in illustration: TV CHANNELS. RADIOS PRESS

For nearly a year, someone from Italy sent the “Zëri i popullit” newspaper’s fax machine, once a week, a ten-metre fax containing an interesting item: nothing but his photograph, with the caption underneath: Pietro Zanoni, press office, Bari, Italy. The most ordinary conversation that took place on such occasions was: who gave us this psychopath as a present? When we insisted over the phone that he stop sending us faxes, he responded by turning up in person one day at the newsroom door, dressed in a tracksuit, unwashed, with a market-cassette player strapped to his waist and headphones on his ears. This person was Pietro Zanoni, who by then had made us burn through more than thirty rolls of fax paper. But with a little effort we managed to shut down the fax, even though he was ready to testify to Mafia ties between many Albanian government officials and Cosa Nostra, political murders and large-scale thefts by officials in both countries, and whatever else his adolescent mind, eager to become a character in the Albanian newspapers one day, could come up with. We have always felt responsible for ensuring that psychopaths are not brought into the political struggle, especially those from abroad, because there are already far too many of them here at home. But now, while for two years the Albanian newspapers had refused to make room for Zanoni-style stories and had shut off their fax machines, the Albanian state and the party in power have emerged—not to open the doors of a fax machine, but of Albanian Radio and Television itself, the Telegraphic Agency and the government newspapers. It is clear that those publishing Zanoni know who he is, but that does not matter to them. It is enough that someone has come along who is willing to say what those in power need at a particular moment. It is not hard to discern the cynical delight in the Democratic Party’s statement and its hope that at least some of the fabrications will take hold and be believed. This is not simply another ordinary attack on the free press and freedom of the press; legitimate structures of the Albanian state are also being accused, including all the opposition MPs, who are said to receive regular payments from the Serbian secret services. This reveals the real purpose behind inventing and amplifying such events. The first is to divert attention from the real problems troubling Albanian society. The world press and highly prestigious international organizations have made serious accusations against the Albanian state authorities. Dozens of facts have been presented concerning breaches of the embargo against Serbia, the arms trade—for the areas of massacres and interethnic clashes—and the depositing of officials’ wealth in London banks, etc. The second purpose is to undermine as much as possible those preparing to come to power, by spreading the idea that “they’re just like the rest of us, in fact, they’re tied to Serbia.” A third purpose is to use the periodic invention of bizarre scandals to destroy Albanian public opinion, so that nothing said in the media and press is trusted. To do a job properly also takes sweat and brains; it takes advisers and specialists. All the more so for a state that wants these in abundance and also wants responsibility. But if all this is what it wants in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it in abundance and it wants responsibility. But wants responsibility. Pietro Zanoni—or is the state making him its collaborator with Pietro Zanoni’s brains, or is the state making him its collaborator and not merely using up thirty rolls of fax paper? He has now begun to use up several tons of paper and dozens of hours wasted for Albanians; f. these are not Pietro Zanoni’s brains. Genti [?]

“Tritan Shehu and Kolec Topalli asked me to move the newspaper to the right. If I had done so, these things would not have happened.” The Association of Professional Journalists of Albania protests the blocking of newspaper distribution

Interview with Pietro Zanoni Read more on page 4

What should the President of the Constitutional Court do: accept the “Anti-Genocide” law, or hide from the files of the past?... Page 5

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