Albania releases ethnic Greek politician after 16 months in prison

ATHENS

A local court in Albania on Monday ordered the release of Fredi Beleris, the ethnic leader of the country's Greek minority and recently elected member of the European Parliament, after nearly 16 months in detention.

According to local media, the decision was issued by the Fier District Court in southwestern Albania six weeks before the end of Beleri's prison sentence.

Beleri had requested early release through his lawyer, arguing that he had served more than two-thirds of his sentence and had behaved well while in custody, online media ekathimerini.com reported.

The only condition for his early release is that he maintain regular telephone contact with the local police station, it said.

“Today's decision is a drop in the ocean of the justice that awaits us. My fight begins now,” Beleri was quoted as saying by the media company after the court's announcement.

He added that he wanted to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights “to obtain everything that the Albanian regime denied me in a kind of coup.”

He also thanked Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the “courageous decision” to put him on the New Democracy list for the European elections, saying it had “changed the course of my history”.

Beleri, who was elected mayor of Himare in southern Albania, was arrested on May 12 last year, two days before the elections, and sentenced to two years in prison. His case has had a significant impact on Greek-Albanian relations.

He was accused of attempting to buy votes ahead of the local elections on May 14, 2023, which he won.

In March, an Albanian court sentenced Beleri to two years in prison for electoral fraud.

Beleri was elected to the European Parliament in June as a member of Greece's ruling centre-right New Democracy party.

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