1. Let them realize it. They win, they lose, they are the losers in the end. Through their actions and inactions, they emphasized this as the focus of their unacceptable behavior. I mean Himarra. After the elections in October 2000, they turned it into a leading point of electoral conflict and arbitrariness at the expense of candidates from the Greek national minority.

2. Officials of the “competent” service from an illuminated and apparently imposing building on a hill north of the port of Heymarr feed Tirana with “alarm” messages. With each election approaching, they become more and more “threatening”. I think they are slightly different from 2000.

3. Leaving aside the independent institutions of justice… Things would have been different and normal if the successive Prime Ministers of Albania were calm about the electoral process in Heimarra over time. Mr. Edi Rama lost the most important battle for him personally. He suffered a painful defeat at the hands of the imprisoned Greek minority mayoral candidate in Heimarra. Arbitrary arrest and imprisonment made Freddie Belleris a figurehead now known in Brussels and Washington.

4. The leaders of Tirana should have realized that they themselves were to blame. They made Heimarra the catalyst for Albania’s relations with Greece and the European Union. Regardless of the outcome of the elections, their political value due to Himarra was discounted. Now they are credited with it.

5. The goal of Tirana should be the release and rehabilitation of Freddy Beleris. This will be the least painful option for Mr. Rama. The cord will stretch. Let them weigh the situation in a balanced way and without colorful temperamental outbursts of their leadership. They don’t have good options. Extending the prison term for mayor-elect Himarra would put him in the same category as Russian political prisoners Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza, critics of Vladimir Putin.

* Mr. Alexandros P. Mallias is the Honorary Ambassador.