From: tzarros@ccs.carleton.ca (Theodore Zarros) Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Fri, 19 Aug 1994 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa). Athens News Agency Bulletin --------------------------- * Greece: stern warning to Tirana, as ethnic Greeks 'gravely' ill-treated * Mangakis * Amnesty International Greece: stern warning to Tirana, as ethnic Greeks 'gravely' ill-treated ----------------------------------------------------------- Athens, 19/8/1994 (ANA): The government yesterday issued a stern warning cautioning Tirana to exercise self-control and respect the human and minority rights of ethnic Greeks in Albania. Foreign Ministry spokesman Costas Bikas also condemned the arrest Wednesday of a further seven ethnic Greeks in Southern Albania (Northern Epirus). "The arrests are further acts of intimidation of the ethnic Greek minority. Such acts are particularly grave since those arrested have been gravely ill-treated," Mr. Bikas said. Relations between Greece and Albania are already severely strained by the arrest and ongoing trial of five leading members of the ethnic Greek political organisation 'Omonia'. "Such conduct shows the Albanian side as losing self-control after being exposed to international public opinion, following the 'fiasco' over the trial of the five members of Omonia in Tirana," Mr. Bikas added. "We warn Tirana to regain self-control which it has lost, and immediately show full respect for human and minority rights of ethnic Greeks in Albania," the spokesman noted. The latest arrests took place in southern Albania (Northern Epirus) on the pretext that the seven persons taken to custody had written slogans on walls calling for respect of human rights and immediate release of the five Omonia members. Press reports say the seven were severely ill-treated by the Albanian police, one of whom is said to be in serious condition. All seven have since been released. The one in serious condition is to be transferred to a hospital in Ioannina, northern Greece. Meanwhile, the trial of the five ethnic Greeks continued yesterday in Tirana with two of the defendants, Irakli Sirma and Kosta Qirjako withdrawing their confessions which, they said, had been extracted under pressure. Sirmos told the court on the fourth day of the trial that his confession had been extracted after 72 hours of non-stop interrogation. He said the defendants had been under pressure to become agents of the Albanian secret police (SHIC), and were now on trial because they had refused to join the ranks of Albanian intelligence. "After proving unable to turn us into SHIC agents you are now getting your revenge by accusing us of being agents of Greek intelligence," he told the court. The defendants, all leading members of the ethnic Greek political organisation Omonia, were arrested in April after a border incident in which two Albanian conscripts had been killed inside Albania. Tirana blamed Greece for the raid, but Athens flatly denied the charges. The trial has stoked tension between the two neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at Thessaloniki airport after returning from Tirana, members of the all-party parliamentary committee strongly condemned the conditions under which the trial of the five 'Omonia' members is being conducted. PASOK deputy and former justice minister George Alexandros Mangakis said that the trial had been "typically engineered", adding that the Albanian regime was using the ethnic Greeks "as a tool to attack and create tension in Greece". He described the attitude of both the ethnic Greek community and the defendants as "courageous", adding that it had become perfectly clear to the international community that the trial was a mere "parody". Main opposition New Democracy party deputy Antonis Foussas recalled the testimony of one of the defendants at the trial yesterday: "I have struggled for human rights. I remained in prison for more than ten years under the Hoxha regime. What I will now suffer is of no concern to me, but I am struggling only for human rights." Responding to questions, Political Spring deputy Maria Machaira said "it appears that the Albanians do not know what dialogue is, or anything about good-neighbourly relations. It seems that tough measures are needed (on the part of Greece)". PASOK Eurodeputy Yannis Roubatis said that it was necessary for international organisations "those that place great emphasis on human rights, to come to Tirana and see what the Berisha regime is doing to ethnic Greeks in Albania". Strong reaction was voiced later by Antonis Samaras, leader of the nationalist Political Spring party, warning the Albanian government of stiff Greek reaction, if it failed to immediately put an end to the trial. "The Stalinist behaviour of the Albanian government which is being daily revived in and out of the courtroom of the pseudo-trial, leaves no more room for tolerance," Mr. Samaras said. "The time has come for a clear-cut Greek response. Either the Albanians immediately put an end to the trial and terrorism (of the ethnic Greek minority), or we proceed with implementing the stiff measures agreed on," he added. Premier Andreas Papandreou has warned of possible reprisals against its Balkan neighbour in response to the trial of five ethnic Greeks on charges of military espionage and possession of weapons. A group of high-ranking Greek ministers, police and intelligence service officials met in a secluded army unit earlier this week and agreed on a list of measures as a response to the trial. No indications of what the measures include have been made public by the government, but police sources say patrols along the Greek-Albanian borders have increased in a bid to block illegal Albanian immigrants from entering the country. Athens has launched operation "Broom Sweep" last year, expelling thousands of illegal Albanians as retaliation to the expulsion of a Greek priest from southern Albania. Greece and Albania have been at odds for some years over the ethnic Greek minority in Albania, estimated by Athens at 300,000 and by Albania at 60,000. Mangakis -------- Tirana, 19/8/1994 (ANA-M.Vehos): PASOK deputy and former justice minister George Alexandros Mangakis said here yesterday the trial called for intervention by Max Van der Stoel, Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) High Commissioner for minority issues. Mr. Mangakis told ANA that Mr. Van der Stoel's intervention was imperative in view of efforts by the judicial authorities in Tirana to support the charge of espionage by including as evidence an official meeting Mr. Van der Stoel had held with the defendants during his visit to Albania. "A totally legal communication with the CSCE High Commissioner is considered as an act of high treason and carries the death penalty," Mr. Mangakis said. He added that he would write Mr. Van der Stoel asking him to intervene with the Albanian authorities "in order to make it clear that only a distorted concept of the principles and operation of CSCE can describe a contact with him as a crime." Amnesty International --------------------- London, 19/8/1994 (ANA-L.Tsirigotakis): In an official announcement yesterday the Amnesty International (AI) noted that it has expressed concern to the Albanian authorities over the impartiality of the trial. The international organisation said that an AI representative would go to Albania next month to investigate alleged violations of human and minority rights against members of the ethnic Greek community in the neighbouring country. According to the announcement, Amnesty International keeps a score of protests and complaints concerning the conditions surrounding the trial as well as ill-treatment of the accused by the Albanian authorities, including Greek journalists and lawyers at tending the trial.