FROM RADIO FREE EUROPE 11 DEC 1998

[21] ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER WANTS DEATH PENALTY FOR POLICE KILLERS

Prime Minister Pandeli Majko told the "Albanian Daily News" of 11 December that "capital punishment should be applied" for armed robbers

who kill policemen. His statements follow the murder on the Tirana-Athens bus of a police officer (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 8 December

1998). Albania's November 1998 constitution stipulates that the life of every citizen is protected, but the penal code says that capital

punishment is legal. Politicians and legal experts disagree over whether the death penalty is unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court has not

yet ruled on the issue. Since Albania's admission to the Council of Europe in 1995, judges have sentenced several criminals to death, but the

authorities have not executed them, in deference to the council's rejection of the death penalty. FS