Albanian Court Rejects Release of Elected Mayor

Albania’s Special Court of Appeal has rejected Fredi Beleri’s request to be released from jail and sworn in as the elected mayor of his town once again.

The illegality of Fredi Beleri’s incarceration has been repeatedly pointed out by legal experts. Patrick Henry, the president of European Lawyers Without Borders, noted that with the decision to deny Beleri’s release, the Albanian courts violated articles 5 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Dimitris Vervesos, president of the Plenary of Bar Associations of Greece, 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.

The unlawful imprisonment of Beleri and the decades-long oppression of the indigenous Greek minority of North Epirus by Albania should be an urgent diplomatic priority for Greece’s government and media.

It is not just the freedom of Beleri that has been violated for several months, but also the future of the entire Greek community of Albania that is at stake.