(ANSA-AFP) - TIRANA, SEP 2 - An Albanian court on Monday
granted conditional release to a Greek member of the European
Parliament, Fredi Beleri, who had just weeks left on his
two-year sentence for vote-buying, according to a state
broadcaster. Beleri, a member of Albania's Greek minority, made
headlines this year after he was elected on the conservative
list of Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as an MEP
despite being behind bars. The dual national had been arrested
days before municipal elections in Albania in May 2023, accused
of offering 40,000 leks ($445) in exchange for votes. He did not
take up his post as mayor. "The court accepted our request to
conditionally release Fredi Beleri while he still had about six
weeks to serve," his lawyer Geni Gjyzari said Monday, according
to the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA). Beleri was temporarily
released in mid-July to attend the European Parliament's
inaugural session in Strasbourg, France. He then returned to
Albania serve out the rest of his sentence, according to the
country's prison administration. Beleri has called his
conviction politically motivated, a claim the Albanian
government rejects. The Beleri case has caused friction between
Athens and Tirana, with the Greek government voicing concerns
"regarding the impartiality of the legal proceedings". Athens
also warned that the case could impact Albania's EU accession
efforts. But Tirana insists that Beleri has a shady past,
including links to extremists. (ANSA-AFP).
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