The following are official and unofficial actions of the Albanian State and its citizens against the North Epirotians, which based in the U.N. chart of the Human Rights, constitute direct violations of the internationall legal framework :
12 January 1990: Albanian Border Guards shoot and killed four young North Epirotians from the village Aliko, which tried to pass in Greece, to avoid hunger and discrimination. Their names were: Eythimios Massios, Athanasios Kotsis, Adonis Raftis, Eyagellos Mitrou.
3 February 1992: The Albanian parliament passed a law, with which was not allowed, to participate in the elections parties with a national, or religious, or local character. The legislation targeted directly the Greek North Epirotian party "Omonoia" (concord), and aimed to dissolve it.
April 1994: Five leaders of the North Epirotians, from the "Omonoia" party were arrested, held in total isolation and finally accused "for treason and espionage". Their trial had a stalinist atmosphere and character. The five North Epirotians (Theodoros Bezianis, Eyagellos Papachristou, Panagiotis Martos, Konstantinos Tsiavos, Iraklis Syrmos) reported that during their arest were tortured and harassed by the state agents.
15 August 1994: During the first day of the "Omonoia's five" trial, the Albanian police attacked the North Epirotian protesters which were demostrating peacefully outside the Court. 75 North Epirotians were arrested, and hundreds were wounded and transported to the hospitals.
March 1996: All the public Greek-speaking schools in North Epirus were closed by the Albanian police and the teaching in Greek became by law illegal.
September 1998: The Albanian Crisis erupted and Albanian armed gangs started to attack North Epirus. In a chaotic situation where everything was out of control, in the region of North Epirus several incidents took place. Villages were attacked, houses burned, shops bombed, people persecuted.
Octomber2000: During the Albanian local elections in the North Epirotian town of Himara, Albanian police officers together with agents from the Inteligence Service were suppresing and terrorizing the Greek population in order to avoid the election of a Greek Mayor. Moreover 700 North Epirotians stabilized in Greece, but legal possesors of the Albanian citizenship, were denied entrance in Albania by the Albanian Border Police in order to halter them from voting.
April 2001: The law of the census that took place in Albania did not allowed to the citizens to report their ethnic origin and relligion. This had as a result the de facto end of the recognition issue. So the Albanian authorities claimed without shame that the number of Greeks in Albania is not significant. |
