in the search of their homes and offices, their detention and their trial. None of the arrestees had access to legal counsel during their initial detention. Four of the five ethnic Greek members of Omonoia stated that, during their detention, authorities subjected them to physical and psychological pressure, including beatings, sleep deprivation, and threats of torture. The Albanian Government rejected these claims. The five ethnic Greeks also complained of lack of access to their families during the first 3 months of their 4-month investigation. During their trial, a demonstration by a group of about 100 Greek lawyers, journalists, and ethnic Greek citizens of Albania took place outside the courthouse. The Albanian Police broke up the protest and detained about 20 lawyers and journalists. The members of Omonoia were eventually sentenced to 6- to 8-year terms, which were subsequently reduced on appeal. Political motivated kidnappings In June 1997 two political motivated kidnappings were reported of relatives of Omonoia members. One of them was the father of the Albanian opposition candidate, who has been required to withdraw her candidacy from the upcoming general elections. The second was the son-in-law of a former Omonoia chairman. Protests against irregularities in the 2011 census In early October 2011, the Albanian government announced that a census will be conducted throughout the country which will count the exact size of ethnic minorities for the first time after 1989. However, after proposal of the nationalist oriented PDIU, the Albanian government will fine $1,000 every citizen that will declare an ethnicity other than what was written down on his or her birth certificate, even if this certificate was written during the era of the pre-1989 communist regime were minority status was limited to only 99 villages. Omonoia responded that such a procedure contains serious irregularities and will absent in case these issues are not resolved. This is believed to be an attempt to intimidate minorities into declaring Albanian ethnicity, as the Albanian government has furthermore additionally declared that it will prosecute anyone who does not participate in the census or refuse to declare his or her ethnicity. Due to the irregularities in the census procedure, Omonoia representatives conducted another census in order to count the members of the ethnic Greek minority. According to this a total of 286,852 individuals were counted, which equals to ca. 10% of the population of the country. During the time the census was conducted,