Today at 12 noon, the trial of the candidate for the mayor of Heimarra, Fredi Beleri, will take place in Avlona, ​​Albania, who was summoned late Thursday night on the charge of buying votes ahead of Sunday’s elections.

His opponent is the current mayor supported by Edi Rama’s Socialist party.

Members of the diaspora speak of a deliberate act, aimed at terrorizing members of the Greek minority, while the Albanian prime minister characterized the arrest of Beleris as “an example of the determination of justice to apply the law”.

Along with Freddy Beleris, the Albanian authorities also brought in his associate Pantelis Kokavesis, who is a heart patient and has undergone a heart transplant and who protested the arrest of the Greek expatriate. His second associate, Fredis Beleris, who was brought in with him, was released a few hours after being brought in.

The moment of arrest and the bribery documents

The relevant document of the prosecution presented by SKAI in the main news bulletin states that “the citizen in question was caught red-handed in Himarra on 12.05.2023, at 00:14, in collaboration with other persons, giving sums of money to various people in order to buy votes.

The reaction of Athens was immediate, with Kyriakos Mitsotakis to inform the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, while from Mytilini he sent a clear message to the Albanian government.

“To send a message to our friend Albania, Greece is not going to accept concessions to the rule of law and the protection of the rights of the national Greek minority. If Albania wants to get closer to the EU, it has an obligation to ensure free and fair municipal elections and to immediately release those it imprisoned to participate in the process,” the Greek Prime Minister stressed.

The arrest of a candidate for mayor two days before the elections, if there is no irrefutable evidence, is a scandal,” underlined yesterday from Stockholm the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, who informed the high representative, Josep Borrell, and the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs about the issue as acting presidents,

The Greek ambassador visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania, while she also went to the Police Department of Avlona in order to meet the arrested candidate for mayor.

Finally, the Minister of Citizen Protection, Takis Theodorikakos, had a phone call with his Albanian counterpart yesterday, requesting the immediate release of the expatriate.