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| Fredi Beleri, candidate of the coalition "We win together" for the Municipality of Himara |
The Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime has once again ordered the arrest of Fredi Beleri, the elected mayor of Himara. He was arrested three months ago on suspicion of election corruption and vote-buying. Beleri, who presented himself as a qualified plastic surgery doctor for his entire life but had only completed 8 years of schooling, has denied the charges and labeled them as politically motivated, as VOA reports.
His arrest has caused tensions between Albania and Greece. The Albanian government has stated that the matter is in the hands of the judiciary and has no connection to the fact that Beleri belongs to the Greek minority.
The Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime has reaffirmed today the decision to keep Fredi Beleri, the elected mayor of Himara, under arrest on charges of election corruption and vote-buying for more than 3 months.
The Special Court rejected repeated requests for a change in security measures to allow Beleri to take his oath of office as mayor and declared the actions of his representatives, who claimed political interference, invalid.
Beleri was arrested two days before the local elections on May 12 at his establishment in Himara. He was caught in the act by the police, attempting to buy votes from citizens in order to secure his mandate.
A few days later, the Central Election Commission declared Beleri the winner of the local elections by a narrow margin against the socialist candidate.
He has denied the accusations of vote-buying and has repeatedly requested to take the oath of office according to the law. He claims to be a victim of a political attack by the opposing party in power, the Socialist Party led by Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The incident has caused tensions between Albania and Greece. Several Greek parliaments and government officials have called on Albanian authorities to release Beleri so that he can take his oath of office. They mentioned that this issue would impact the relationship between the two countries and Albania's progress toward EU integration.
Prime Minister Rama expressed surprise that the release of an Albanian citizen of Greek nationality accused by SPAK of vote-buying is being demanded. He emphasized that this issue of Albanian justice has been politicized to the point that protests are being organized in Albania by Greek authorities, deeming the Greek involvement in Albanian justice surreal.
A week ago, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis invited the President of Albania Bajram Begaj for an unofficial dinner with state leaders in Athens today.
President Begaj declined the invitation due to prior commitments, explaining that his schedule had been set earlier.
Observers interpret this invitation for Mr. Begaj as a diplomatic way to express Athens' discontent with Prime Minister Rama, who primarily represents Albania in foreign affairs.
The respect of the rights of the Greek minority in Albania has intermittently emerged as an issue straining the relations between the two countries during the entire transition period, for various reasons; sometimes related to property issues, maritime boundaries, religious objects, military cemeteries, laws of war, and lately even allegations of election corruption.