TIRANA, June 1 – The Special Court of Appeal imprisoned Fredi Beleri, the winning candidate in the local elections for the Municipality of Himara, on suspicion of being involved in vote-buying, not accepting his request to be released. Beleri told the Court of Appeal that the case against him was framed without evidence and it is not proven that he gave money to secure votes in the May 14 elections.
Beleri also asked for a change in the security measure due to his health condition, but in the end the court decided to reject his request.
Meanwhile, Beleri’s close friend Pandeli Kokaveshi, who was imprisoned as an accomplice in vote-buying, was released by the Court of Appeal for health reasons. Beleri and Kokaveshi were arrested two days before the May 14 elections, after allegedly giving 40,000 ALL for 8 votes to an infiltrator of the Prosecutor’s Office.
After the decision of the Court of Appeal to leave Fredi Beleri in prison, the Foreign Ministry of Greece reacted through a statement, considering it as a decision that is not in accordance with the provisions of the rule of law and does not constitute fair treatment for an elected mayor.
“Today’s rejection of the appeal of the elected mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri, against the continuation of his detention, does not appear to be in accordance with the provisions of the rule of law, while it does not constitute fair treatment of an elected representative of the local government, as it appears from an announcement by the Special Prosecutor’s Office of Albania according to which it is the only detention in a total of 31 complaints for electoral crimes,” said the Greek foreign ministry.
The ongoing detention of F. Beleris was the subject of Thursday’s conversation between Foreign Minister Vasilis Kaskareli and his Albanian counterpart Olta Xhaçka in Oslo on the sidelines of the informal ministerial meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds the issue very high in its priorities and, beyond the bilateral dimension of the issue, will continue to inform and raise awareness of the international community and in particular the European partners, since Albania is a candidate country for EU membership,” said the statement of the Greek Foreign Ministry. /argumentum.al
