The Foreign Ministry’s reaction to the extension of the arrest of Heimarra Mayor Freddy Beleris was immediate. “The extension of the detention of Freddy Beleris, now elected mayor of Heimarra, offends the public sense of justice and the European idea of ​​the rule of law,” emphasizes Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your ad.

Albanian court decision

The decision to extend the pre-trial detention of Freddy Beleris and Pantelis Kokavesis was made earlier by the Special Court for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime in Tirana.

Two detainees did not appear at the hearing in the case. The defense asked for their release, referring, among other things, to their state of health. As you know, Pantelis Kokavesis is in the University Hospital of Tirana with serious health problems. And Freddy Beleris was transferred to the prisons of Tirana from yesterday and presented medical evidence to the court that he had health problems, but they were not taken into account.

Unless the decision on pre-trial detention is changed by the country’s higher judiciary, Beleris and Kokavesis will remain in pre-trial detention until the end of the interrogation and consideration of the case by the same court.

This development jeopardizes the appointment of Mayor Freddy Beleris, whose appointment has not yet been formalized by the Central Electoral Commission responsible for approving the election results.

However, in a Twitter statement, Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Tsacka mentioned a meeting she had today with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in Brussels and that they also discussed the Beleri case, noting that the case belongs to the judiciary and that it should not influence a new page in bilateral relations. He added that this is not a human rights issue, not a political issue, and certainly not a bilateral issue. According to him, Mr. Beleris enjoys the same rights as any Albanian citizen, and no Albanian citizen can be above the law.

He stated that the bribery of voters is a serious violation of the electoral law and now the case will be decided in court.

According to APE-MBE, ERT