At arrest of Fredis Beleris candidate for the mayor of Heimarra two days before the elections he mentioned attending the informal meeting of of Foreign Ministers for Ukraine. As said by Mr. Dendias if there is no hard evidence, the arrest of a mayoral candidate two days before the election is an absolute scandal. I repeat something that Prime Minister Rama also acknowledged, the arrest of a mayoral candidate, two days before the election if there is no hard evidence, constitutes a scandal.

Mr. Dendias noted that he has already informed the EU High Representative, Mr. Joseph Borrell, as well as the Swedish Foreign Minister, while he emphasized that the Greek government will closely monitor the issue.

The full text of the Dendias statement follows:

Today’s discussion, even in the informal Council, about Ukraine is extremely important. Because in Ukraine, the European case is judged as a whole in terms of territorial integrity, but also human rights.

However, I would like to take a position on another, extremely serious issue. The arrest of a member of the Greek Minority, Freddy Beleris, a candidate for Mayor in Heimarra, Albania, together with another Greek. I would like to say that, unless there is hard evidence, the arrest of a candidate for Mayor two days before the election is an absolute scandal.

I have already informed the High Representative of the EU, Mr Borrell, and the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs as acting Presidency about this. The Greek government will monitor this extremely closely.

I repeat, something that the Albanian Prime Minister Rama also recognized. The arrest of a Mayor candidate two days before an election, if there is no solid evidence, constitutes a scandal.

It is recalled that the Avlonas prosecutor’s office issued an order early in the afternoon arrest warrant for Beleris on the charge of vote buying.

Meanwhile in his statement Prime Minister Rama characterized the arrest of Beleris as an example “of the determination of justice to apply the law”.

He demanded, as he says, that the arrest be “documented with evidence and legally protected”. He called on politics not to rush to conclusions and to leave the investigative work of the competent authorities unaffected.

He claimed, finally, that the event has nothing to do with the election campaign