The Court of Appeal of the Special Court of Tirana, with today’s decision, once again rejected the application of the elected mayor of Heimarra Freddy Beleris for his release from prison and for the right to assume his mayoral duties.

Immediately after, the president of European Lawyers Without Borders, Belgian, Patrick Henry, in a joint press conference with the president of the Plenary of the presidents of the Bar Associations of Greece and the Bar Association of Athens, Dimitris Vervesos and the president of the Bar Association of Messolonghi, Christos Paisios, the who attended the trial, stated that with its decisions to deny Beleris’ release, the Albanian court violates Articles 5 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

As he said, there are no motivations for Fredy Baleris to leave the country, while at the same time other measures can be applied that prevent a possible escape attempt.

Referring to the court’s position that the release of Beleris carries risks of tampering with evidence in the case file, he said that this is not true since only one witness testified against while the others were in favor.

He was categorical regarding the conditions for committing a new criminal offense by Beleris and considered the jail term disproportionate in view of the fact that of most of the thirty defendants in Albania for an electoral offense only Beleris is being held in pre-trial detention.

The president of the Plenary of the Presidents of the Bar Associations of Greece and the Bar Association of Athens, Dimitris Vervesos, specifically referred to the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which considers it illegal to prevent an official from performing his duties in the absence of a final and irrevocable court order.

Mr. Paisios also spoke in the same spirit, stressing that pre-trial detention in relation to the crime is a disproportionate act.