Albanian police close newspaper offices in dispute over use of state-owned building

TIRANA, Jan 10 – Albanian police have closed the offices of a small newspaper after the government said it wanted to use the state-owned building for a passport office.
Tema daily publisher Mero Baze says the government broke a 20-year lease following his criticism of Prime Minister Sali Berisha for involvement in alleged economic scandals.
A Tirana court has issued a temporary order saying the newspaper cannot be evicted until the lease dispute is resolved.
The Economy Ministry said they had received no court document adding that the contract said clearly the public building could always be retaken by the authorities if needed for public work.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha has considered this issue “purely an administrative issue.”
However, Albanian journalists frequently complain of harassment from authorities.
A group of journalists supported the newspaper’s protest and strongly asked the government not to evict the publication from its offices.
Opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama said that Baze was a publisher who close links to Berisha, who had often harshly and unfairly attacked other journalists, officials and even Rama. But he said he supported the protest to prevent closing the newspaper that had begun to criticize the premier.
The Committee to Protect Journalists also expressed its concern that the Albanian authorities were closing the offices of the daily Tema, which recently published stories alleging official corruption.
Meanwhile, police in Tirana surrounded the premises, barring journalists from entering the building. Further, Baze said Tirana’s police chief had told him the order to bar the staff from the building was issued by Albania’s Ministry of Interior.
On December 16, Albania’s economic ministry canceled the newspaper’s lease.
Baze said the daily won a lawsuit to regain their lease on January 6. Despite the court’s ruling, Tirana police barred journalists.
On December 31 Baze’s car caught fire and exploded. Police said the explosion was an accident, caused by a short circuit, while Baze claimed it was retaliation for Tema’s critical journalism, the Balkan Insight reported.
“Police should immediately allow Tema journalists to enter their offices and do their job,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator, Nina Ognianova. “Instead of harassing the reporters, authorities should investigate the recent explosion of publisher Mero Baze’s car. Such methods of intimidation of a critical news outlet are incompatible with the democratic path Albania has chosen.”