[ALBSA-Info] News:Nano stirring trouble

[KreshnikBejko]

SP Head Wants ex-President to Face Justice

TIRANA - The chairman of the ruling Socialist Party Fatos Nano urged the
prosecutors to bring before justice former President Sali Berisha, a party
spokesman said on Monday.

The parliament has lifted Berisha's immunity as a deputy to allow investigators to
ascertain his actions during the last months of his presidency in '97, when the
country plunged into anarchy following the collapse of pyramid schemes. Berisha,
now the chairman of the opposition Democratic Party (DP) ruled with a iron fist for
five years, and just about every Albanian blamed him for allowing investment
schemes to mushroom and then killing them. Investigators want to clarify whether
Berisha incited the uprising and the looting of army barracks.

Berisha also must testify in front of the prosecutors regarding the killing of a DP
lawmaker, and the armed uprising that followed his funeral two days later, on
September 14, 1998. The DP chairman has refused investigators' demands to
appear before at the Attorney General office.

In a party meeting late on Saturday Nano - who resigned from the post of Premier
after the Sept. 14 uprising - demanded from the justice "to do its job."

"Berisha and others must respect the law regardless of their political immunity,"
Nano said. "They must respect the law just like every other person, and that
includes appearing before the court as a witness or accused."

Nano said no politician is above the law, including himself: "We cannot allow any
more that the courts and the justice be challenged from Fatos Nano, or Sali
Berisha, or everyone else with a (solid) political status."

The head of the SP, who suffered four years in prison for corruption in what was
widely regarded as political trial, and then cleared of all charges, urged
prosecutors to execute the court's order by using all means, including the special
police forces. He said that people won't forgive the justice if it overpasses law
violations by senior politicians.

"The state of law loses its influence over the people when it does not act against
illegal actions carried out by a person, that wants to escape the law thanks to his
political title," Nano said.