TOP Analysis, Prognoses and News about Greek - Albanian Relations and the Region.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
SManalysis in Focus
100-th anniversary of the independence of Albania, the Albanian political nationalist races, without finish Edi Rama has set, the Albanian national flag on his house balcon
In the ninth floor balcony of an apartment high-rise, the day of Sunday morning, waved a national flag of Albania. From that day, the chairman of the SP, Edi Rama has put the flag on the balcony where he lives .. aparamentit Three days ago, the 100-anniversary of the independence of Albania, Edi Rama invited all citizens to put a flag in their homes as he did Sunday morning. The declaration of Rama as a patriotic act made in meeting of FRESSH, addressed the youth present at the Palace of Congresses: "In the balcony of my house this morning I put" red and black flag "of Skanderbeg and Ismail Qemali flag of independence As we celebrate this year. I did that when I came here to invite everybody to do the same thing when you get home and then put together to invite all Albanians do this gesture, the desire to November 28 this year, Albania and Kosovo and the Presevo and Tetovo Albanians live in buildings where the world Black and Red in any balcony or window where an Albanian family living" Edi Rama declared.
Albania's Parliament on Wednesday created a new committee that is expected to call for the dismissal of the deputy head of the High Council of Justice, Kreshnik Spahiu.
Besar Likmeta
BIRN
Tirana
Kreshnik Spahiu during a rally of the Red & Black Alliance in the city of Kruja
Ruling Democratic Party MPs maintain that the parliamentary investigative committee will “investigate evidence that Spahiu has discredited his constitutional role. “
Kreshnik Spahiu emerged over the past year as the head of the nationalist Red & Black Alliance, an organisation better known for its opposition to the recently held population census.
The creation of the new parliamentary commission on Wednesday passed through the law commission of the assembly with the votes of the ruling majority, while the opposition boycotted the vote.
In a meeting with his MPs on Monday, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha accused Spahiu of using his position to create a political party, in breach of the constitution.
Spahiu has previously hinted that the Red & Black Alliance could be transformed into a political party.
In a press conference on Monday, Spahiu called the parliament's request for his dismissal as unconstitutional and said it amounted to executive pressure on the justice system.
The Democrats fear that the nationalist movement could cost them votes on the right in the 2013 parliamentary elections.
Spahiu was nominated to the High Council of Justice four years ago with the backing of the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Berisha.
BRUSSELS -- The NATO's Military Committee (MC) will meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
The committee comprises the highest military representatives of the alliance and its Partnership for Peace program.
The meeting will be attended by chiefs of staff of the total of 67 countries, and the debate on Kosovo will be addressed by KFOR Commander Erhard Drews and EULEX Chief Xavier Bout de Marnhac.
The MC will also meet in NATO-Russia Council (NRC) format to discuss how practical cooperation between the Russian Federation and NATO can evolve in 2012.
Although the membership of the EU for Albania, the "Key" is Greece
The "playboy" Kreshnik Spahiu is playing the last card of Berisha Catapult on the neighbor report Europe. Association Council, which finds a host of serious human rights violations, particularly Minority ...
BRUSSELS, "Proinos Logos" • «The efforts made by the Albanian government to prepare an action plan, the country's accession to the European Union, according to the instructions and recommendations of the committee responsible, not made much progress and require further improvements," mentions the recent Report of the Stabilisation and Association Council EU According to the report, serious violations of Human Rights, particularly the Human Rights of Minorities."Progress in Human Rights and respect for and protection of minorities is lacking," the report further noted: "The weakness of the rule of law and widespread corruption continue to negatively impact the business environment.""No further progress has been made in combating corruption within the Judiciary," the report and added: "There is progress on the independence of the judiciary. The full immunity enjoyed by judges, prevents these investigations. The widespread corruption is certainly a factor that hinders the accountability of the judiciary. The general implementation of measures to combat corruption is still insufficient. It is absolutely necessary independence of the Supreme Courts. " The Report of the Stabilisation and Association Council also noted the following:• The Public Administration suffers from significant shortcomings. There is merit in the process of recruitment. It has been the creation of an independent, meritocratic, professional Public Service, without political interference. Generally there is enough power in Albania to take full part. • Albanian government failed in its attempt to return to the Orthodox Church of Albania property that belonged to them before 1967, when the country was officially atheistic. Not yet returned to the Orthodox Church of Albania icons "for restoration and safekeeping."• The feuds still affect certain segments of the population. Some families even opt for more self-isolation for fear of reprisals.• There is insufficient progress in the matter concerning the treatment of socially vulnerable people or people with disabilities.• Property rights is a serious issue for the Albanian people. The government is unable so far to resolve.• Unresolved remains the question of compensation (and restore) the government of former owners of property confiscated during the communist regime. Recalled that the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between EU and Albania signed in June 2006 and entered into force in April 2009. Albania applied for EU membership on April 26, 2009.The EU Albania made a total pre-accession financial assistance 165.2 million (83.2 million in 2010 and 82 million in 2011). ***In multi-page report of the Stabilisation and Association Process (p. 114), particularly noted that "cooperation and good neighborly relations (clear reference to Greece) is an essential factor for the transition of Albania to the European Union." This ignores the provocative "agent" of the Government of Mr. Sali Berisha, Mr Kresnik Sipahiu, Vice President of the Supreme Council of Justice of Albania and newly minted chairman of the Albanian nationalist organization "puce Alliance."The provocative declaration that 'From now on, anyone who lived in Albania must be lived as an Albanian, "are unacceptable and blatantly undemocratic intervention, reminding Chotziki season. What does the Foreign Ministry?An Officer large party of the Union, speaking on "P.L." expressed appreciation that the intervention of the Greek Foreign Ministry on the disputed issue "is weak and therefore ineffective." He added: "We need to take serious diplomatic measures as serious is the loss of Greek National Minority. Mr. Sali Berisha does not know the European languages. " He criticizes the decision of the Greek Members Tavou Vangelis and Costas Barka and "Party of the Greeks" (?) To participate in the "unreliable inventory." "Such strange decisions cause reasonable questions," he said with emphasis that official. He is wrong?
BELGRADE -- Justice Ministry State Secretary Slobodan Homen says the security of top state and judicial officials is at the highest level despite "frequent threats".
Slobodan Homen (FoNet, file)
Homen told Tanjug on Tuesday in Belgrade that the the security agencies are fully committed to protecting high government officials and their families.
According to Homen, danger always exists, but the safety of state officials is certainly much better than it was at the time of the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, nine years ago.
According to recent media reports, an official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs received Monday a tip that an assassination was being planned against Serbian President Boris Tadić, Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej, Interior Minister Ivica Dačić and Director of Police Milorad Veljović.
Veljović told Tanjug that he does not want to comment on threats, and Patriarch Irinej said that his life in the hands of God and that he not afraid at all.
According to media reports, an Interior Ministry official received a text message on Friday saying that the new assassination attempt would be less spectacular than the one that had been planned to occur at the Borik sports arena in Banja Luka, where the police found weapons shortly before the ceremony marking Serb Republic Day.
The ceremony was attended by top officials from Serbia, the Serb entity, and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The New Year 2012 arrived with more grim news for Greece. Our “rescuers” demand more austerity to be imposed upon an exhausted populace that has already suffered, on the average, a 50 percent cut in real personal income in a country where expanding poverty co-exists with some of the highest consumer prices in Europe. Our “rescue” so far has moved the overwhelming number of pensioners and the low paid into the endangered species category, with millions of people faced with the specter of extinction thanks to a combination of collapsing social and health services and the constant downward pressure on salaries and pensions that they were already nothing to write home about.
(You won’t be surprised of course to hear that the entire “streamlining” required, plus the constant austerity measures supposedly ordained to buttress the process, are decided upon by medium-rank accountants without the slightest clue of what happens to real people on the other end of the numerical keypad).
At this point, with both the ousted Papandreou regime and the successor Papademos “unity government” failing disastrously to protect even the most basic rights of the Greek people against the “rescue” invasion, prospects of relief are non-existent. Indeed, 2012 is already recognized as a “critical” and “especially difficult” year -- a year during which the 9 percent deficit of GDP must reach below 5 percent, a level unachievable under the circumstances save the mass destruction of whole swaths of Greek society (Note: our ‘rescue’ so far has exclusively concentrated on slashing incomes and devaluing private assets, not harnessing wanton waste by the public sector).
Greece possesses the unenviable record of being the first formally insolvent country of the European “union” and one of the first globally. Her “rescue” continues being a grotesque puppet show of bankers and politicians haggling over piling debt on debt as the way to “salvation.” The world surrounding Greece is in no better state, with many sovereign debt snowballs already rolling beyond control. But Greece was “lucky” in having a numerous kleptocratic class in charge that outperformed similar criminally-minded governors, “system paragons” and banks elsewhere. The net result was the complete destruction of the country’s credibility, and what was left of her economy, and her cut-off from the “markets” with no prospect of returning to “healthy” borrowing for a long, long time.
The certainty about this deluge is that Greece’s bankruptcy and the pending insolvency of so many other countries cannot and will not be solved via economic measures. And it will not be solved via the devious conventional wisdom of defending financial institutions at the cost of trillions of taxpayer’s money, so cozy for “investors” who assumed there will be no loss for them, ever. Catch phrases like “too big to fail” should be stricken from the list -- and banks, even very big ones, should be allowed to fail. Little pity should be forthcoming for “investors” suffering the results of their “investing” as it has developed in recent years around junk “instruments.” Paying the price of the incessant re-packaging and re-sale of essentially plain hot air “solutions,” concocted by the various “geniuses” of the remorseless and often plainly criminal investment banking sector, should be included in the main risks of “investing” to be suffered by those in pursuit of disproportionate profit.
Greece’s and the globe’s sovereign debt crisis needs a far-fetching political solution. Without it, debt as a weapon of mass destruction can and will destroy us all in a swift conclusion of the Age of (Financial) Madness we are currently experiencing.
Rick Perry says Turkey should be expelled from NATO, calls leaders 'Islamic terrorists' Republican presidential candidateTexas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate. AP photo
Texas governor and U.S. presidential hopeful Rick Perry suggested it might be time to kick Turkey out of NATO, calling the country's leaders "Islamic terrorists."
Perry made the remarks during Fox News' South Carolina debate, website Mediaite.com reported yesterday.
Moderator Bret Baier reportedly mentioned Turkey's ruling "Islamist" Justice and Development Party (AKP) and outlined the increasing murder rates of women, declining press freedom in the country and deteriorating relations with Israel and Greek Cyprus since the AKP came to power and asked Perry if he believed Turkey still belonged in NATO.
Obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then ... not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO but its time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it, Perry said, adding that Turkey "moved far away from the country it once was in the 1970s," when Perry was stationed in Turkey as a pilot.
The report said Perry's response "might surprise many" and mentioned Turkey's longstanding alliance with the U.S. in NATO, citing an article from the Washington Post that defined Turkey as "a critical diplomatic partner engaged in a working relationship that is one of the most important but least discussed developments shaping [2011s] change in the Arab world.
Turkey has been keenly watching events unfold in Syria, fearing its near-neighbor’s violence could spill over the border. However, there are fears that Turkish government may not be getting an accurate picture of what is really happening in Syria.
As soon as Syria's president promised to completely revamp the constitution in an attempt to resolve the crisis in the country, Turkey expressed support for a humanitarian intervention, saying it must do all it can to prevent a civil war.
With the bloody status quo in the Syrian crisis having been maintained for months, there is a danger that violence may start spreading beyond the country’s borders.
And its close neighbor Turkey – once a close friend too – is now a harsh critic of Damascus. “Syria's first priority should be to listen to its people and meet their demands, not to denounce others; instead of massacring its people, it should listen to them,” says Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Faruk Logoglu, the deputy chairman of the Republican People's Party in Turkey, is a harsh critic himself, but he is critical of the Turkish government.
Ankara is on the side of the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Council – a military and diplomatic force aimed at overthrowing the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It supports a “buffer zone” and a “humanitarian corridor” - which some fear could bring Turkish troops to Syrian soil. “What does that mean according to international law? It means aggression against a country, it means war,” Faruk Logoglu says.
But any intervention would be different from the one in Libya – since Russia and China have made it clear: no more no-fly zone resolutions. It means the role of regional players like Turkey increases dramatically.
But Faruk claims Ankara’s behavior is irresponsible and risky. “It is the larger implications beyond the bilateral context of Turkey and Syria as such. The situation in Syria must be handled with great care by all powers. And unfortunately I do not see that care, especially from the Turkish government,” he says.
Oytun Orhan works for the Middle East Strategic Studies Center, based in Ankara.
It is sponsored by the Turkish Foreign Ministry to help shape policy. And its opinion on Syria is clear. “The regime of Syria is killing its own people,” says Oytun Orhan, Middle East analyst the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM).
Or not always that clear. “Nobody has objective information as to what is going on in Syria,” says Oytun Orhan.
The center’s specialists have not been to Syria for over a year.
It means the picture they paint for officials in Ankara is unlikely to be an accurate one.
The sources of some videos are often questionable, so it is easy to be misled or get a false picture of what is really happening.
Although that does not stop researchers from coming to firm conclusions. “The military option, this is the last option Turkey does not want to see. But this is an option,” says Oytun Orhan.
Turkey may have declared it does not welcome a military solution to the Syrian crisis, but it has not ruled it out either, playing an “if” game: if there is massive migration from its troubled neighbor Turkey says it will have to protect its own people.
And while officially Ankara insists it wants peace and stability in the region, its troops are ready just kilometers from the border with Syria.
100th anniversary of Albanian independence
The Albanian Parliament opened with a solemn ceremony the 100th year of Albania’s independence. January 17th was chosen as the opening day for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of independence, since it is the day when the Albanian National hero, Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu died, who symbolizes the unification of all Albanians.
Representatives from Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Presheva and Bujanovci were present in the Albanian Parliament, without partial distinctions, together, as six centuries ago and as 100 years ago, when the nation’s fathers gathered from all Albanian speaking lands for declaring the independent and free Albania.
The Parliament Speaker, Jozefina Topalli, paid homage to the personalities who signed the independence declaration, together with the many names that have been deleted from the Declaration of Independence.
“Today we honor all those sons of Albania, who made the sublime sacrifice on that dramatic century, in front of the fatherland and the only religion that we have ever had in our life, that of being Albanians. Men like them have lived on that time, and will live forever in the altar of our nation”, Topalli declared.
The Kosovo Parliament Speaker, Jakup Krasniqi declared that “the social, economic and political orders can change, together with the administration formations and the developments pace, but Albania, the state of the Albanians, the land of the Albanians is eternal, alive and that will live forever”.
While the Albanian Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, declared that we remained together in any circumstance. Deep in the hearts of the Albanians there is the principle “one nation, one stance”. Nothing can divide the spirit of a country. They can divide the body, but the spirit is undividable. The spirit of a nation is his freedom. Thank God we are gathering free in this room, because we stayed together”.
The Albanian PM also paid homage to the US nation, who has supported the Albanians to survive as a nation in their lands and prosper in these 100 years.
“From the start of the past century and until today, the biggest power has always been with us, and this is a day of honor”, Berisha declared.
The100th year of independence has a special significance for the Albanians in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, by showing that we belong to the western civilization. www.top-channel.tv
PRIŠTINA -- U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker, who arrived in Kosovo on Monday, met with Priština government officials.
Reeker first had a 90-minute meeting with Prime Minister Hash m Thaci, following by a meeting with Edita Tahiri, the head of Priština's delegation in the talks with Belgrade.
No statements for the media were released after either meeting, and reporters were forbidden from photographing Reeker as he was leaving the Kosovo government building.
Reeker will be spending the night in Priština.
Earlier today, Tahiri told Kosovapress that she and Reeker will discuss the continuation of the Belgrade-Priština dialogue in Brussels, among other things.
Reeker is on a two-week tour of Western Balkan countries, during which he will meet with political leaders and representatives of the non-government sector, the U.S. State Department told Tanjug earlier.
During the tour which wraps up January 26, Reeker will visit "Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Turkey and Austria" - Reeker's office told Tanjug.
BELGRADE -- A Belgrade-based newspaper writes that "top MUP officials" have received a tip-off about plans to assassinate President Boris Tadić.
Boris Tadić (Beta, file)
Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić, as well as police Director Milorad Veljović were also the target, according to the Blic daily.
The article says that a Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) official "received a text message", which said that "unlike the planned assassinations in the Banja Luka Borik sports venue, new assassinations would be less spectacular".
The newspaper further writes, quoting its unnamed MUP source, that the tone of the message was "warning rather than threatening", and that it was sent "from one of the domestic (mobile telephony operators".
"It was sent by someone with knowledge of the goings-on in the criminal underworld, who learned about preparations for the assassination," said the source, and added that the information was taken "very seriously", with police "increasing precautionary measures".
The information was taken very seriously and, judging by statements from Defence Minister Dragan ŠSutanovac and State Secretary for Justice Slobodan Homen, the security agencies are fully committed to protecting high goverment officials to allow them to work normally.
Albanian security: Guns for defending property
The Luz i Madh residents have started organizing for protecting the entering road of their village, in order to avoid thefts that increased during December.
The view of the revolted residents with hunting guns on their shoulders has apparently scared the thieves away, but the situation is not calm yet. Police has increased its presence in the area and is investigating, while the residents who made the occurrence public have been interrogated.
The low temperatures have obliged the residents to light up fires and keep guarding their property, mainly livestock, which has been targeted by the thieves recently. At night, the guarding residents have also fired in the air.
This village has been attacked by groups of thieves who target the livestock, from which the entire village makes a living. Sources from the Kavaja Police say that there have been no thefts during January, and the police have evaluated the situation and increased the presence.
The resident’s concern, expressed for Top Channel recently, has put the police in motion for keeping the lives and properties of the villagers safe.
Known for its doomsday predictions and extreme scenarios and opinions covering themes such as conspiracies, UFOs, the hollow earth theory, etc, the newspaper advocating the Kremlin’s interests is now publicizing a new article on the coming wars of 2012 and the new world order.
Signed by Stanislav Mishin, the article is only adding to the catastrophic predictions of the Mayans for this year.
As far as Greece is concerned, Pravda foresees the fall of the coalition government within the first six months of the year through a military coup, which will serve the EU interests in the country.
Moreover, Greece will exit the Euro and return to the drachma. New alliances will be formed and Russian military bases will be installed in the country. However, before that can occur, the Greek-Cypriot-Israeli alliance will inevitably lead to a war with Turkey.
According to Pravda, Turkey will fight at three different fronts but will employ its main forces against Greece. The Turkish attack will stop at the city of Thessaloniki, while the EU and NATO will not take sides in this war. The Greek side will be reinforced by Serbian, Bulgarian and FYROM volunteers but Greece will be defeated at the end in the north.
The article notes that Turkish troops will finally enter Central Greece, but a general Kurdish uprising in East Turkey and the ongoing Israeli attacks will split Turkey into four states at the end, thus changing the borders in the broader region.
The Albanian Socialist Party (SP) has announced plans to hold a public rally on Saturday, January 21, 2012. The Embassy is unaware of a specific time for this event. Current information indicates that the rally will take place along Tirana’s main “Deshmoret e Kombit” boulevard outside the Prime Minister’s office and at other locations throughout the city. The SP has also called for rallies in other cities around Albania to take place throughout the day. The Embassy does not have information on the specific location, staging areas or potential size of the proposed rallies. Demonstrations can affect all major incoming arteries to the city in which they occur.
Albanian Red & Black Alliance’s Public Rally
The Albanian Red & Black Alliance (RBA) has called for a large public rally in the city of Kruja to commemorate the Albanian National Hero “Skanderbeg” on Tuesday, January 17, 2012. We have been informed that gatherings will begin in Tirana, Elbasan, Durres, Shkoder, Lac and Lezhe during the morning of the 17th prior to groups traveling to Kruja. The Embassy does not have information on the specific location, staging areas or potential size of the proposed rally or preliminary gatherings. Demonstrations can affect all major incoming arteries to the city in which they occur.
Although large, peaceful demonstrations in Tirana have occurred frequently in the recent past, a demonstration on January 21, 2011 was violent and resulted in the death of four persons and injuries to many others, including to Albanian State Police. Subsequent rallies in Tirana have been peaceful and have drawn up to 10,000 people, according to reliable estimates. We remind U.S. citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn violent and unpredictable. You should avoid them if at all possible. Demonstrations in one city have the potential to lead to additional public rallies or demonstrations in other locations around the country. Be alert and aware of your surroundings and pay attention to local news media reports regarding all possible public rallies or demonstrations. U.S. citizens are urged to exercise strong caution if within the vicinity of any demonstration.
U.S. citizens traveling abroad should regularly monitor the U.S. Embassy's website and the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs website, where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, and Country Specific Information can be found. The U.S. Embassy also encourages U.S. citizens to review "A Safe Trip Abroad," which includes valuable security information for those both living and traveling abroad. In addition to information on the Internet, travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. and Canada, or a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444 from elsewhere.
We encourage U.S. citizens living or traveling in Albania to enroll with the U.S. Embassy in Tirana through the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) website to obtain updated information on travel and security within Albania. By enrolling, U.S. citizens make it easier for the U.S. Embassy to contact them in case of emergency. The U.S. Embassy in Tirana is located at Rr. Elbasanit, No. 103, Tel: +355-(0)4-224-7285; Fax: +355-(0)4-237-4957; E-mail:ACSTirana@state.gov.
Subsidiary Emanuelle Adriatic Energy has obtained three offshore exploration licenses in the Adriatic.
16 January 12 11:23, Hillel KorenIsrael Land Development Company Energy Ltd. (TASE: IE), controlled by Ofer Nimrodi, is not satisfied with gas exploration in Israel. Its Cypriot registered subsidiary, Emanuelle Adriatic Energy Ltd. (51%), yesterday signed an agreement with the Albanian National Agency of Natural Resources on development, production, and sale rights to hydrocarbon products in three blocks in the Adriatic Sea offshore from Albania totaling 5,070 square kilometers.
Albania's Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy approved in principle the awarding of the concessions to Emanuelle Adriatic Energy. The company and the ministry will formulate an agreement in principle on the commercial terms for the company's operations. This agreement is due to be signed soon
Among other things, the agreement will state that Emanuelle Adriatic Energy's rights to operate in the offshore blocks, and to carry out the work plan that will be agreed for seven years, and will include milestones that the company will have to meet after three and a half years, and after a further two and a half years.
Nimrodi said, "The expansion of ILDC Energy's operations outside of Israel through Emanuelle Adriatic Energy, and the activities taken to obtain exploration licenses in Albania, is part of the policy to develop additional growth engines and spread risk by diversifying the portfolio of exploration licenses."
ILD Energy's share price rose 2.1% in morning trading to NIS 0.86, giving a market cap of NIS 730 million.
The Supreme Court: Ex V/ Prime Minister Ilir Meta innocent
The Supreme Court found Ilir Meta innocent. The Penal College, gave its decision in the premises of the Court, where Ilir Meta has not been present.
The Supreme Court is expected to give the explanatory arguments within 15 days, while the proofs will be taken by the Prosecution for another penal process.
After 20 sessions, the Prosecution requested the Court to find Ilir Meta guilty for active corruption and sentence him with two years to prison and 1 million ALL fine.
The Prosecutor based his pretence on the testimony of the main witness of this case, the former Minister of Economy, Dritan Prifti, by showing on Prifti’s declarations that he had been pressured by Meta several times for making financial favors in auctions and concessions.
The Prosecution continued by underlining that the video is genuine and unaltered, which proves Prifti’s declarations.
Meta: Prosecution's request, political
“The video has been accepted by the Supreme Court as a legal evidence, although the Penal College did not accept the Prosecution’s request to hear it on the court room and transcribe it”, Prosecutor Sheshi declared.
One day after the Prosecution asked 2 years to prison for Ilir Meta, the former Deputy Prime Minister reacted with a press release. He considered the Prosecution’s request as political and unfounded.
“This request wasn’t based on any proof or any witness. It was a political pretense. However, it is remarkable how the Prosecution lowered their request from the death sentence in January 2011, to 2 years in prison and 1 million ALL, because they can’t stay without placing fines. They say that they have asked 3 million EUR from someone, for avoiding him prosecution, and other things like that”, declared the SMI leader, Ilir Meta.
AT least 25 foreign organised crime gangs are operating in Scotland –with police particularly concerned about the ultra-violent Albanian mafia, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
The Balkan gangsters have moved into Scotland's lucrative drugs and vice markets over the last year, according to the first official intelligence assessment of international crime gangs operating in Scotland. The Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) now ranks ethnic Albanian groups among those "non-indigenous" gangs posing the greatest threat. According to police intelligence shared with the Sunday Herald, foreign gangs account for 25 of the 267 organised crime groups in Scotland. Other foreign gangs include Chinese Triads responsible for everything from cannabis farms to bootleg DVDs; people traffickers from Bangladesh and the former Czechoslovakia; as well as Yardies from the Caribbean, incorporating criminals from West Africa, peddling crack and prostitutes. The Albanians, known as the Mafia Shqiptare and brutalised by the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, have links right at the heart of world trade routes for heroin, guns and women. Police see them as presenting a serious new challenge. A decade after they conquered the sex trade in London's Soho and cowed the Mafia in its Italian heartlands, Mafia Shqiptare families officially rank among the "most wanted" serious organised crime groups in Scotland. Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Whitelock, of SCDEA, said: "We are noting the emergence of a number of crime groups from other countries operating in Scotland. This includes gangs from eastern Europe, southeast Asia – particularly Vietnam and China – as well as African countries. "We are aware of their presence here in Scotland and we will not be complacent. The Albanians are here now. Some of the individuals concerned are known to be capable of extreme violence. Albanian serious and organised crime groups have been known to be involved in prostitution, arms and drugs. They have been flagged up in our mapping exercise. "We have a list of the top 20% most serious organised crime groups, each of which is in the ownership of one of the forces or the agency. The Albanians are on that list." Albanian crime families – often relatively small but fiercely bonded together by a code of honour and blood feuds – arrived in the UK after the Kosovo war of 1999. Members of Mafia Shqiptare families have spread their tentacles to Scotland before. In 2003, for example, vice king Luan Plakici, an Albanian from Montenegro, was jailed for 10 years for trafficking women from Moldova, Romania and elsewhere in to prostitution in London after promising them good jobs. He married one of his victims, even pimping her on his wedding night, as he made an estimated £3 million fortune. It is thought he also supplied Glasgow's sex trade, including a St Petersburg teenager who escaped from a city brothel. However, direct Albanian control of vice businesses – or supply networks for heroin – would pose a major threat not just to law enforcement but to the interests of indigenous Scottish criminals. The SCDEA mapping exercise of autumn 2011 – the latest in a series –showed the number of crime groups had fallen, from 360 reported in the Sunday Herald last June, to 267. However, the total number of "nominals" or known gangsters remains around 4000, we can reveal. Labour MSP Graeme Pearson, formerly director-general of the SCDEA, said: "It has always been the case that foreign crime groups have had a foothold in Scotland; the Italians and West Africans up in Aberdeen and the Columbians in Edinburgh. I am not surprised my former colleagues at SCDEA have identified an Albanian group. Their presence in London and up through the Midlands is well-recognised. "The Albanians are a bit of challenge because they have a military background in their homelands and their criminal elements have a very violent history. They are very difficult groups to penetrate."
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