Beleris: Granted permission to take oath as MEP following pressure on Rama

Fredi Beleris has received permission to travel to Strasbourg and take his oath of office as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) after significant pressure and subsequent concession from Albanian authorities.

Beleris is scheduled to depart for Athens on Monday morning, where he will have a layover before continuing to Strasbourg. He is expected to arrive at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport at 12:30 PM.

Upon arrival in Strasbourg, Beleris will assume his duties as an MEP during the European Parliament’s opening plenary session and participate in the votes for the election of the EP and Commission Presidents.

Government sources have expressed satisfaction with this development, emphasizing the importance of Beleris’s participation in the European Parliament.

It is noteworthy that in May 2023, just two days before the local elections in Albania, Beleris, who was running for mayor of Himarra, was arrested on charges of vote buying. The court in Vlora declared itself incompetent to handle the case and referred it to the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption, with Beleris remaining in custody. Despite his imprisonment, Beleris was elected mayor of Himarra on May 14.

In the same month, former Albanian Minister of Justice Ili Maniani criticized the government of Edi Rama for Beleris’s arrest, labeling it a “fiasco” and an “interference in free elections.”

On March 5, 2024, the Special SPAK court found Beleris and his associate Pantelis Kokavasis guilty. Beleris was sentenced to two years in prison, while Kokavasis received an 18-month sentence with a three-year suspended sentence.

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