The international news agency Reuters is reporting on tomorrow’s hearing of an appeal by New Democracy MEP-elect Fredi Beleris against the conviction against him on staged charges of vote-buying in local mayoral elections a year ago.
Specifically, in a telephone interview with journalist Karolina Tagari from inside the Albanian prison, Fredi Beleris called the indictment “false and politically motivated.”
“The only fair decision would be my acquittal. There is no evidence against me. There is no way the verdict would have been different in any other state,” he said elsewhere in the interview.
The Beleris case that has tainted Greek-Albanian relations, Reuters highlights, opened in May 2023 during a campaign for mayoral elections in his hometown of Himara, in the picturesque Albanian Riviera, which has an active indigenous Greek community. He subsequently won but was never sworn in and is being held in custody, the agency noted.
Belleris, who won a seat in the European Parliament representing Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party, said his victory was a message to former communist Albania, which is seeking to join the EU. “It cannot behave like a non-European country,” he said.
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In addition, the elected Mayor of Himara and now an MEP, noted that Albania’s EU membership is in the interest of both countries. “Neither I nor the Greek government have any intention of harming the accession of any country,” he said, adding that “an Albania that is a member of the EU but does not respect the rule of law and the will of the people does not belong there.”
Reuters reports that Fredi Belleris, who has dual citizenship, has been seen by some in Albania as a polarizing figure. He responded that the fact that he won the votes of both Greeks and Albanians in Himara, an ethnically mixed region, proves he is a unifying candidate.
“There is no one who wants Albania to become a normal European country more than me. Those who accuse me of being divisive should look to the people of Himara for the answer,” he concluded.
