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Battlefield of powers
 The Chief Prosecutor Sollaku is accused by
the Prime Minister Berisha for closing 84 files of
crimes. The walking-stick of the social-communists in almost all the areas of
the state is not only preventing the Albanian Justice from discovering the
darkest crimes, but also has formed a hot battlefield of powers. The simple
people, the Albanian voters are the victims in this battlefield, where the
government is daring to bring justice, while the opposition cries out that
constitutional normative is being overlooked. Nevertheless, the insecurity in
the Albanian life is evident. Many murders, kidnaps, violations, pulling-down
of catholic crosses, made Albania
the focus and attention of the entire world as a country of anarchy. One of
those citizens, whose life is threatened, is Ajet Sejdi Selimaj, shot the last
days by unidentified people. According to the Anticommunist Political
Association “13 Dhjetori 1990”, whose testimony is
in our journal’s folder, Ajet Selimaj
is the target for physical elimination, of political segments linked to
crime, right those segments which the Prime Minister Berisha
is trying to stop. Coming from an anticommunist family, going through
prosecution during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, Ajet Selimaj,
a member of the abovementioned association, was active in the political
anticommunist protests held on January 14, 1990, June 16, 1990, December 13,
1990, April 2, 1991, and in 1990, with the beginning of the democratic
processes, was an organizer for the beginning of religious activities, what
was permitted after many efforts of all the people. Even on September 14,
1998, in the big protest during the funeral of Azem
Hajdari, shot dead at the center of Tirana, Selimaj was mistreated physically by segments of the
former Security of the State. This violence of the last days seems to have
old roots. Ajet Selimaj
is known as one of the organizers of the protests of the right-winged forces
in Shkodra against the manipulation of the
referendum for the constitution in 1993, the local elections in 2000, the
parliamentary elections in 2001, again the local elections in 2003. His
family too was menaced several times, according to the protest of the
Political Anticommunist Association “13 Dhjetori
1990”. Behold, Albania
has still a long way to do. The problems first of all are in the missing
security for the citizens, problems establishing the state of law, problems
with Mafia, corruption etc.
Vasel Gilaj
The Local Government is under Attack. It is War!
The administrative organization of
Albania
is such that it allows
for two levels of government: local and national. Both are “elected” by the
people and are charged with running the local and national matters
independent from one another. To assure such independence,
Albania
, is organized in Village,
Communes, Cities, Districts, and Prefecture. The Village has a Chieftain, or Krye-Plak, and the council of elders. Several villages
form the Commune, which elects its Chairman, as its executive, and the
commune council, as its legislative branch. Cities elect their mayor as the
executive and their city council as their legislative, in addition to their
courts. Districts
consist of a city and the surrounding communes. They elected their chairman
and the district council. Several districts form a prefecture, and the
prefect is appointed by the Prime Minister. And then we have the
national government, which consists of the legislative, the executive and the
judiciary. These three branches are supposed to operate independently from
one another, and in theory they do. The sovereignty of the local
government is supposed to be respected by the national government. And the
constitution is clear on this issue, where it is provided that Communes,
Cities and Districts have their government elected by the people who are
supposed to run their local affairs without any interference from the
national government. But the local governments are complaining and are
growing ever more concerned. They are alleging that the national government
is usurping their authority, either by force, threats, coercion or outright
imposition. A number of communes, districts and cities, such as Velipoj, Dajc, Melgush, Shkrel, Kastrat, Kelend,
Shkoder
, Lezhe, Thumane, Mamurras, etc., are
complaining that the national government is using its agency, the
NIS
, to detain,
question, interrogate and threaten their staff into submission. “We are
no longer allowed to do our job as elected representatives of the local
government without the approval of the national government. This is a
complete usurpation and is flagrantly unconstitutional. But do they care about
the constitution? No, they don’t. The constitution to them means nothing”,
said a district chairman, who wished to remain anonymous.
“The
national government is out of control. Look what they did with Ngjela, Bzheta, Sollaku, Pllumbi and other
dissidents within the government. Berisha destroyed
them. He called in the Republican Guard and threatened his opponents. He is investigating Malaj,
and fired Sportak Ngjela
and expelled him from the DP. He tried to get rid of Jozefina
Topalli, and hi will, just like he did with Pjeter Arbnori and other
democrats who ask for reform within the party. He is trying to suppress any
dissent before the local election of 2006”, said Kol
Aliaj, the Chairman of the Kelmend
Commune, who used to support Berisha until he turned
against the DP in favor of Paulin Sterkaj, a Socialist Deputy from Dedaj.
“I have had my staff members interviewed and interrogated by
NIS
agents. They even
pressured them into spying on their superiors. This is frightening to us all”
said the spokeswomen of the Bushat commune. “We are
losing our constitutional sovereignty” she continued.
We spoke
with a number of investigators from various communes and districts, and they
confirmed the following: T. L., a
Confidential Investigator, who feared to reveal his name, told us that he has
been called in by SHIK-u on several occasions and interrogated by them about
his investigative work for his commune. He said they mistreated him and
threatened him with his life, unless he cooperated with them. He admitted
that he is frightened by the
NIS
agents and the unlimited power vested upon them. Another one, Violeta K, a female investigator, confirmed that she has
been taken in by
NIS
and interrogated, and mistreated by them when she refused to cooperate with
them in revealing information about her confidential information she had
gathered as an investigator. The other one, N. V, an investigator with a
Commune alleges that he has been beaten and tortured when he refused to
cooperate with
NIS
agents in spying against his superiors. Not long ago, Mimoza
Tartari, a civil rights attorney, had made the same
allegations about her staff, especially her private investigator, being
detained, questioned, interrogated, and mistreated by the
NIS
, who later arrested her at her offices
in Tirana.
I.K, an attorney who is representing one of the
communes who had an employee arrested and tortured by NIS because of his
political work for a local candidate, said that his office has received many
complaints and that he is filing civil rights lawsuits on their behalf. But
then he conceded that even they, attorneys, are afraid of the
NIS
since the Tartari incident in Tirana. He opined that the
sovereignty local government should be respected since it is elected by the
people. The Peoples Advocate in Tirana, confirmed
that the number of complaints filed or called in by local employees and
officials relating to the abuse of power by the national government has
increased since Berisha returned to power.
“What
surprises me the most”, said Kimete Kastrati, a Political Consultant, “is the fact that the
world ignores the governmental abuses in
Albania
completely. They know
what is happening, and they just ignore it. Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch and the American Department of State, Helsinki Committee on
Human Rights, and even the European Union, generate reports about
Albania
that are laughable. Thy make is sound like people from allover
the world should come and live here as we are the bracken of freedom and the
champion of human rights. When indeed, the opposite is the truth. We neither
have freedoms, nor have respect for human rights” she said.
“The
Association of the Politically Persecuted (APP) is the hardest hit one” said
the chairman of the Lezhe Chapter. “Our enrollers,
activists, advisors, coordinators, etc., are fleeing Albanian in droves
because the
NIS
is making their life
unbearable in
Albania
.
And all this is well planned and orchestrated in Tirana to weaken the
political opposition. They don’t want a third political force, such as the
APP, or NMD, etc., to take root in
Albania
”, he said. “And that is
why they do this. It is purely political. They know what they are doing”, he
said.
“The
government argues that the number of its
NIS
has decreased in the recent years. It
may be true. But it is not how many
agents you have. What counts is how much power you vest in them. And they do
have a lot of power”, said Kristine Ndeu, a
professor of political science at the
Tirana
University
.
“If the sovereignty of the local government is usurped by the national
government, we will become a totalitarian state again”, she said.
The Tirana government downplayed these allegations,
but never denied them. A spokesman for the national government said that
local governments are inefficient and we are pressuring them into increasing
their efficiency. Thai is all we are doing.
It is not clear to us why they are making these allegations, she said.
However,
one thing is clear, this is a war between the
locals, who are fighting foe their independence,
and the nationals, who love taking independence away from the locals. And if
we were to bet, we would put the money on the nationals as they have a ton of
experience in usurping the locals, be is by intimidation, force, coercion or
simply by declaring that they are now in charge.
The staff
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