Double standards weighing down Beleri case
Defense attorneys in the trial of ethnic Greek mayor-elect Fredi Beleri on vote-buying charges in Albania are highlighting what they call the different standards deployed by the Albanian judiciary.
Members of the ethnic Greek community allege charges against Beleri are linked to investments around the town of Himare, whose tourist development has been rapid in recent years.
In particular, they cite the delay of Beleri’s lawsuit against former foreign minister Olta Xhacka for illegal seizure of a seaside plot of land which was acquired, according to allegations by its legal owner, with a forged title. After two years of investigations, the relevant prosecutor’s office in Vlore failed to find any evidence and shelved the case.
On the contrary, according to Stelios Bolanos, an ethnic Greek representative and supporter of Beleri, the Vlore prosecutor’s office managed to “tie up” the case of the elected mayor of Himare in just four days and make arrests just two days before the municipal elections, although it did not have the authority to do so.
Before the May 14 municipal elections, the husband of the former foreign minister was granted strategic investor status on the basis of the plot of land appropriated in this controversial process, which was denounced not only by the ethnic Greek minority, but by the opposition as well. The strategic investor status was granted by a commission chaired by Prime Minister Edi Rama.
For the Beleri camp the link is obvious. A few days before the May 14 elections and the apparent mayoral victory by Beleri, who belongs to an opposition party, there were fears that plans to control investments around Himare would be overturned.
Beleri has now been detained for five months and 20 days without even being granted special permission to be sworn in as mayor of Himare. In the coming period, when the court’s proceedings resume, it is expected that these arguments will be raised by Beleri’s defense.
