Attack on journalist in Southern Albania

In a further example of the fragile state of press freedom in Albania, a regional journalists' union leader was beaten up by two men last weekend.

One of the men who attacked Piro Nase, a reporter for the newspaper Panorama, shouted at him: "Let's see if you will be more careful what you write after tonight."

Nase, who also works for TV Planet, heads the Gjirokastra branch of the Albanian Union of Journalists.

In condemning the attack, Oliver Vujovic, secretary general of the South and East Europe Media Organisation, said: "This was a criminal act...

"The press freedom situation in Albania remains distressing; the repeated occurrences of vicious physical attacks on journalists, such as this one, are particularly troubling."