‘For us, freedom is not self-evident’
Detained for 50 days, the ethnic Greek mayor-elect of Himare in southern Albania says he has not been called for questioning yet
On the evening of March 11, 2023, the eve of the municipal elections in neighboring Albania, the then candidate for mayor of Himare, ethnic Greek Fredi Beleri, and his aide, Pantelis Kokavesis, were arrested by the police for allegedly attempting to buy votes. Almost two months later, and while he has already been elected mayor, Beleri remains in pre-trial detention.
From the hospital of the maximum-security prison in Tirana where he is being held, after being transported there on May 19 for health reasons, Beleri gave his first interview exclusively to Kathimerini, in which he described what unfolded on the night of his arrest, spoke about what he believes are the motives behind his prosecution, and sent messages to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and the citizens of Himare.
Mr Beleri, first of all, how are you? You have been in custody for 50 days. What are the conditions in prison?
My fellow countryman, I’m 50 years old. My peers and the older ones of us Greeks of Albania were born and raised under the [Enver] Hoxha regime. For us, freedom and human rights are not self-evident as for you. It is a constant struggle to achieve them. When we have them, we experience the anxiety of maintaining them. For me, after my election, it doesn’t matter where I am, but where I am not. I should have been in my post as the mayor of Himare, defending the rights of my fellow citizens, Greeks and Albanians. Throughout the pre-election period, I spoke as an Albanian citizen, who calls for the progress and prosperity of his country, its accession path to the European Union. An Albanian citizen of Greek heritage who attributes to the relations between the Greek minority and the Albanian government the opportunity for the Albanian state to convince the international community of the rule of law and the liberal democracy that operates throughout its territory.
What happened on the eve of the municipal elections when you and your aide were arrested on charges of attempted vote-buying?
Nothing. The time given by the regime to the unofficial, state-sponsored forces to exterminate me are simply running out. They struck as soon as they learned how many Himariotes were preparing to travel up from Athens to vote and realized that they were losing Himare. For those who don’t know, Himare is not included in Albania’s recognized minority regions. Thursday night, two days before the election, after an exhausting day, I was sitting in a cafe with my lawyer and a cousin, talking and relaxing. There, they arrested me in the cinematic way they arrest international terrorists. They wanted to cut off the wave of compatriots from Athens who were coming to vote and to terrorize fellow Albanians who supported me. Since then, I have been detained and prevented from assuming my duties. Their purpose is that after a three-month absence since the formation of the municipal council (on June 27), I will be disqualified from office and they will re-call elections, in accordance with the Albanian electoral law.
Did you or your aide make a mistake that allowed the Albanian authorities to accuse you?
None. About 15 days before the election it was clear from the political climate that I was winning. In the polls, more than three out of 10 Rama voters and four out of 10 voters of Albanian origin were voting for me and not his chosen, outgoing mayor, who has already been in power for 12 years. In the last seven days, Rama himself launched a vulgar attack against me, with insults and characterizations unheard of in public discourse, while the regime-friendly media incited violence against the Greek minority. I called on him to live up to the role of prime minister and I assured him that the day after the elections my only opponent will be people’s problems and I will work with him for as many years as he will be prime minister.
The regime wants the Municipality of Himare to remain in its hands. If I take up my duties, evidence that is not publicly accessible today will come to my knowledge. This is evidence of seizure of Greek property and handover to “investors.” There is proof of extortion with the threat of depriving people of property titles and the obligation to sign a pre-contract selling your property to the person they have indicated to you.
‘If I take up my duties, evidence that is not publicly accessible today will come to my knowledge. This is evidence of seizure of Greek property and handover to “investors”’
How were you treated during the questioning?
I have not been called for any questioning so far. They have kept me for so many weeks and they haven’t even asked me my name!
Have you been informed of the case file? Is there any evidence you can point to that proves the prosecution against you is not based on facts but is politically motivated?
There are numerous procedural violations. The case file handed over to us was practically empty, without any evidence. The indictment is full of illegalities and forgeries. It is typical that my criminal record, which it contains, is falsified. It is different from the one issued two months before the election and submitted to the Supreme Election Commission. That one was clean, which allowed me to be declared as a candidate. I am the only Albanian citizen, among 31 criminal cases related to electoral offenses in the recent municipal elections, but also the only one in the last 32 years of elections, against whom a restrictive term of “pre-trial detention” has been imposed on the charge that a supporter of mine may have bought votes – i.e. for the felony of complicity in electoral corruption. However, I believe that there are [good] judges in Albania. Soon, a judge will stand up to the regime, defending, not me, but the judiciary, the institution, but also Albania’s EU accession path, the rule of law and human rights.
What are the root causes of the criminal prosecution? Why does Edi Rama’s regime want to control the Municipality of Himare at all costs? What’s at stake? Is it targeting the Greek minority or are the incentives financial?
It’s both, they are complementary. They favor friendly investors and cut the Greeks’ umbilical cord with the region, which is their paternal property. By uprooting the Greeks, they secure the interests of their partners. We want to see our country prosper and Hellenism prospering in its home. The regime wants to benefit from the uniqueness of the region and see Hellenism uprooted, definitively and irrevocably, since it will have lost its paternal property. Think how many of you forgot your village when you didn’t keep the ancestral property there.
Furthermore, by prosecuting and detaining me, the regime is sending a message to the present and the future, a message of its determination. My detention and de facto deprivation of the right to be elected is a clear message of power and intimidation. The fear will prevail that anyone who reacts to the regime will have the same fate.
Do you think that your prosecution and pre-trial detention have taken the form of a national issue that affects Greek-Albanian relations?
First of all, you are giving me the opportunity to thank the prime minister and the political leadership of the country and Greek society, including the Greek European lawmakers, as well as the Greek ambassador in Tirana, Konstantina Kamitsi, for their decisive support to date. I do not want my treatment by the regime to affect Greek-Albanian relations. But I hope that this will be the opportunity for Albania to change its behavior toward the Greek minority and turn into a state that respects the rule of law, a liberal democracy.
What is your message to the citizens of Himare and how do you think this case will develop?
I ask them to show patience, not to lose their faith in democracy and the rule of law, to continue to defend justice. Because on May 15, democracy won in Himare. I am grateful to those who showed courage but I also sympathize with those who succumbed to terrorism. For me, there are no winners and losers. All the citizens of Himare, and I as mayor as first among equals, will soon march together, united, to become even stronger. I personally draw strength from their strength and endure, as a citizen who has learned to defend his ideas of freedom and democracy. Until we meet again!
