Fredi Beleri’s request for release rejected once again
The Special Court of Appeal in Tirana, Albania rejected once again the requests for Fredi Beleri’s release from prison and his right to exercise mayoral duties on Monday.
Beleri has been detained since May for alleged vote buying, after being elected mayor of the predominantly ethnic-Greek city of Himare in Albania.
After the decision’s announcement on Monday, the president of European Lawyers Without Borders, Patrick Henry, and the president of the Plenary of Bar Associations of Greece, Dimitris Vervesos held a press conference.
Patrick Henry noted that with the decision to deny the release of Beleri, the Albanian courts violated articles 5 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
He added that there are no motivations for Fredi Beleri to leave the country, while at the same time, safe measures can be put in place to prevent him from fleeing.
He considered the jail term disproportionate to Beleri’s crime since there are more than 30 individuals accused of electoral offenses who are not held in custody.
Dimitris Vervesos referred to the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which deems it illegal to prevent an official from performing his duties in the absence of a final and irrevocable court decision.
