Albania

New York, December 19, 2005—An explosion on Sunday evening damaged the Tirana headquarters of Shekulli, Albania's most popular independent daily, but staff members escaped injury, according to international press reports.

Editor-in-Chief Robert Rakipllari said 15 staff members were working when the bomb exploded outside the newspaper building, The Associated Press reported. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, nor had anyone made any recent threats against the newspaper. "I'm sure this was some type of warning, but I can't explain it," Rakipllari told the AP.

Dear Mr. Speaker:

The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, encourages you to support pending legislation to reform Albania's criminal and civil defamation laws.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe commissioned the London-based anticensorship organization Article 19 to review Albania's defamation legislation in September 2004. Article 19 concluded that Albania's criminal and civil codes are not in compliance with international press freedom standards and, instead, promote self-censorship. In the Criminal Code, articles 119 (on insult) and 120 (on defamation) set penalties of up to two years imprisonment; articles 239 and 240 of the Criminal Code provide special protection for public officials. Articles 617 and 625 of the Civil Code contain vague definitions that do not clearly establish truth as a defense or set standards of liability.

Albania

Prime Minister Fatos Nano and his socialist government continued to pressure independent and opposition media in 2004, using criminal and civil defamation complaints as a stick and politically motivated state advertising as a carrot.