Beleri oath request gets rejected

Fredi Beleri's request to be sworn in as mayor of Himare was rejected by Albania's Special Appeals Court for Corruption and Organized Crime on Monday.

Beleri was arrested in May on voting fraud charges just before winning the municipal election in the predominantly ethnic-Greek southern Albanian region of Himare. He is currently in pretrial detention.

The court ruled that it would not grant a permit to the elected mayor of Himare and only recognized his right to appeal within 15 days.

During the trial, Beleri commented that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama "and his circle trivialize the process and advance the decisions of the justice system."