AlbanianEconomy.comYour News from Albania

Search

Tirana – 29 June (AENews) – Chief of the Albanian State Police force Bajram Ibraj said Thursday that individuals with criminal precedents, known as opposition insurgents during the September 14, 1998 turmoil, are said to be involved in electoral campaigns of right wing opposition candidates.

“We have received information that individuals with criminal precedents may try to create incidents on Election Day”, Ibraj said in an interview for local newspaper Gazeta Shqipetare. “They are returning to Albania from different European countries (mainly Belgium), using false identities”, Ibraj said.

The Chief of State Police has called on the candidates to distance themselves from these individuals.
In September 14, 1998, supporters of the right wing opposition party fought with police and then burned government offices. This event was incensed as a result of the killing of a leading opposition leader Azem Hajdari, two days earlier. He was assassinated outside of the DP’s head office in an attack in which more then twenty individuals were involved.

Up to this day both events are not fully clarified. According to police, several of the individuals involved in the assassination of Mr. Hajdari were themselves killed as part of a list of attacks against them.
Two individuals from the alleged killers organized several bomb attacks but were then themselves killed in 2000. Most of the people who participated as insurgents for the opposition on September 14, have generally escaped out of the country.

Ibraj’s latest declaration is the most forceful call during election campaigns for the general elections scheduled for July 3.