Beleri granted leave to attend funeral

Fredi Beleri, the ethnic-Greek elected mayor of Himare, western Albania, was granted a six-hour leave from prison to attend his grandmother’s funeral on Sunday. 

According to state broadcaster ERT, the funeral was scheduled for Sunday at 2.30 p.m. in Himare. 

Beleri’s trial is set to resume on January 10. The court recently accepted his request to present additional witnesses to shed light on the case. 

Beleri was detained in May on suspicion of voter fraud. All his appeals to be released in order to be sworn in as mayor have been turned down by the Albanian courts.

In the last court session on December 29, Beleri spoke of a “fabricated case,” alleging manipulation of evidence by the Vlore prosecutor’s office. 

Beleri expressed feeling unfairly treated and claimed a biased approach, stating, “they want to punish me.”