The arrest of Beleri ‘has nothing to do with me’

Last Monday morning, I received a message from an unknown Albanian number that criticized a report I had written in last Sunday's Kathimerini on the imprisonment of Fredi Beleri, the ethnic Greek mayor-elect of the city of Himare in southern Albania, in which the Albanian prime minister is accused of involvement in his case. The sender of the message claimed to be Edi Rama himself and asked to comment on the report with an interview. I sent him a curt reply: "Beleri's treatment is unfair and unjust. He was first set up by the authorities and then, after he was accused of trumped-up charges, he was conveniently trapped in the norms, clauses, technicalities and intricacies of the country's new judicial system - so now you can rightly claim that you cannot interfere." But was it really Rama? "How do I know it's you? It would be better if your office called."

Instead of a reply,...