Tirana

Renowned publisher and journalist Nikoll Lesi was honored today with the title of 'Grand Master' by the president of the republic. This special honor for the publisher of one of the most important newspapers of the time, the first independent newspaper, "Koha jonë", is related precisely to its 33rd anniversary, and Nikoll Lesi himself said that he shared this title with all those who contributed to it.

President Begaj thanked the publisher for the contribution to the emancipation of the Albanian society through the newspaper that he created and grew with a lot of work and sacrifice.

The ceremony organized in the presidency was attended by friends and colleagues of the publisher, most of them well-known journalists, whose first school was the newspaper 'Koha Jonë'.

The newspaper "Koha Jonë" is the first independent and private newspaper in Albania. It began publishing once a week as a local newspaper of the Lezha district, turning within a year into a sought-after newspaper and in 1994 became the largest, daily newspaper in Albania and reached its peak in the events of 1997 at 82 thousand copies sold per day.

It faced many ups and downs during its years of existence, from the burning of the editorial office, the arrest of journalists, and the torture of one of them, Zamir Duke, who passed away a few weeks ago.