Beleris was released on parole with six weeks remaining on his sentence for buying votes in municipal elections in Albania.
The mayor of Greek origin of an Albanian city Fredi Beleriwhose imprisonment for vote buying strained the relationship between both countries, has been put into probationhis office confirmed on Monday.
A court in Fier, 100 kilometers south of the Albanian capital, Tirana, accepted the parole request of Beleri, 51, who He had been serving his sentence there for two years.. Beleri had another six weeks left in prison before his release, according to his lawyer, Eugen Gjyzari.
According to the Democratic Union of the Greek Minority in Albania, known as ‘Omonoia’, a rally to celebrate freedom of Beleri in his town of Himare, on the Albanian coast.
Last May 2023, Beleri was arrested two days before the municipal elections from his country, being accused and convicted of offering some 40,000 Albanian leks (360 euros) to buy eight votes.
The case against him has strained relations between Tirana and Athens, with Greece threatening to stop the Albanian candidacy to the European Union. Beleri and the Hellenic country denounce that their conviction is for political reasons. The Albanian authorities strongly reject these claims, citing the independence of the judiciary.
From an Albanian prison to the European Parliament
In June, Beleri, who has Albanian and Greek nationality, was elected MEP in Greece with the ruling center-right New Democracy party. He was granted a five-day permit to leave prison and attend the opening session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
Greek Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis has considered Beleris’ release as a “certainly positive event“. “That does not mean that we are going to forget the (previous) 17 months and the severity of what has happened,” he explained in a press conference, “because the Greek Government sees personified in Fredis Beleris to the entire Greek ethnic group in Albaniawhich we continue to support.
After Beleri was stripped of his position, convicted and imprisoned, there were celebrations early elections in Himare for mayor, an election won by the candidate of the ruling Socialist Party.
Following the fall of the Albanian communist regime in the early 1990s, properties in albanian territory that the State had previously confiscated were distributed among residents. However, this led to frequent disputes over property rights, with accusations of ethnic bias in land distribution.
Beleri claimed that the case against him was an attempt by Socialist Party Prime Minister Edi Rama to retain control of Himare and its potential for lucrative future real estate development that is expected to come with the boom in the tourism sector.
