The court of Tirana decided today to release Freddy Beleri, accepting his defense’s request. Beleri, an elected Member of the European Parliament with the N.D. ticket, had served two-thirds of his prison sentence, which was set to end in early October.
The court’s decision was accompanied by the commitment to communicate – physical presence is not required – at regular intervals with the police station.
Beleri was elected mayor of Himara in 2023; however, he was not allowed to take his oath as he was detained for attempted vote-buying. The charge was disputed by both himself and Athens. After the decision, he returned to prison from where he is expected to leave once the required bureaucratic processes are completed.
F. Beleri: I am now free and proud
“Today’s decision is just a drop in the ocean of justice that awaits us ahead. My fight begins now,” stated the MEP from N.D., Freddy Beleri, in a statement after the announcement of his release from Albanian prisons.
“After 16 months of continuous detention, I am now free and proud, but certainly not happy,” and this is because, as he notes, “the Rule of Law and Democracy in Albania have not been restored, institutions have not functioned, and Justice has not been served as it should have been.”
He also emphasizes that he considers it “self-evident” that he will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights “for what the Albanian regime has denied me in a coup-like manner,” as he states, adding that “now, exercising the duties of a Greek MEP, I will be able to focus on the issues of the Greek national minority and the Rule of Law, without fear, but only with passion.”
As he mentions, today he will be “among my brothers in Himara, where my adventure began and I consider it only right to be present.”
In his announcement, he sincerely thanks Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “who, with his courageous decision to include me on the N.D. electoral list, changed the course of my history” and his “close” friends, Angelos Syrigos and Stavros Papastavrou, for their “unwavering support.”
“They were always there, I will not forget it,” he states characteristically and concludes by thanking the Greek citizens “who all this time gave me the strength not to bend, to endure, and to continue fighting.”