The Special Court of Albania sentenced the elected mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri, to two years in prison on Tuesday, after finding him guilty of buying votes in the 2023 local elections.
Beleri, from the Greek minority, was arrested on May 12, 2023, two days before voting was held in local elections for mayors and municipal councils in Albania.
The police at the time stated that Beleri and three of his associates were arrested on suspicion of having offered money to various people to buy votes.
Greece had called on Albania to stop the judicial process against Beler, saying that it could affect Albania’s path to membership in the European Union.
But Prime Minister Edi Rama had emphasized that this was a matter of justice and not of politics.
Beleri won the elections, but he could not be sworn in as mayor while he was in custody, as the Court had not accepted his request.
After the decision of the first instance, Beleri has the right to appeal to the Special Court of Appeal for Corruption and Organized Crime within 15 days.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office had asked for two years and six months in prison for Beleri. As in every session and during the decision, the process was followed by representatives of the Greek embassy, but also of the Greek media and its supporters.
Also present at the session was Vangjel Dule, head of the Union Party for Human Rights, the party that represents the Greek minority in Albania.
Fredi Beleri’s lawyer told the media that the decision was political, and that the court “acted as ordered” by Prime Minister Edi Rama. The Beleri case has been at the center of a long distance debate between Albania and Greece.
