A court in Albania accepted on Monday the request of the ethnic Greek leader and New Democracy (ND) MEP Fredi Beleris to be released from prison after serving 2/3 of his sentence.
Beleris was elected mayor of the city of Himara in Albania in the 2023 local elections, an office he did not take after being arrested a few days earlier for vote buying.
His arrest mobilized both the Greek community in Albania and the Greek government, which accused the Albanian authorities of attempting to hinder the political activities of Albania’s Greek minority.
In the trial that followed, he was sentenced to two years in prison; as a result of the conviction, Albania’s Central Electoral Commission declared Beleris’ mandate invalid and decided to hold new elections.
Beleris, who remained in prison for 16 months, was elected as a Member of the European Parliament with the governing ND in Greece.
Beleris blasts rule of law in Albania
According to public broadcaster ERT, even though the public prosecutor rejected Beleris’ request, the court decided that there were grounds for his release from prison with only the restrictive condition that he communicate with the police authorities a few times a month since he must be in Brussels to carry out his duties.
He is expected to be released later on Monday.
In a statement following the decision of the Albanian court, Beleris said that he would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights for what he described as the Albanian government’s coup d’état against him in Himara.
“After 16 months of continuous detention, I am now free and proud, but certainly not happy. Because the rule of law and democracy in Albania were not restored, the institutions did not work, justice was not delivered.
“Today’s decision is only a drop in the ocean of justice. My fight now begins”, he said and added “one day, I will be among my brothers in Himara. That’s where my adventure started and I think it’s only right to be there.”
Greece welcomes the release of Beleris
The spokesperson for the Greek government, Pavlos Marinakis, described the release “as a positive development.”
However, as pointed out “this does not mean that we will forget what happened in the previous 16 months and its gravity.”
“In the person of Fredi Beleris, the government sees the ethnic minority of Albania. Now the Greek minority has a representative in the European Parliament who will speak for sacred human rights,” he added.
