Albanian court delays decision on Beleri’s swearing-in request

Albania’s Special Appeals Court for Corruption and Organized Crime has postponed for December 11 the examination of a request from Fredi Beleri, the elected mayor of Himare currently in pretrial detention, who is seeking permission to be sworn in before the municipal council.

According to reports, the representatives of the prison administration claimed that Beleri’s request should be rejected because it is not based on legislation while Belleri’s lawyers argued that this right is safeguarded by the country’s Constitution.

Greek ambassador to Albania, Konstantina Kamitsi, was present at the hearing.

Beleri was arrested two days before the May 14 elections on charges of vote-buying.

Athens has warned it will block Albania’s EU accession path if the Balkan country does not respect the rights of the ethnic Greek official.