Albania’s supreme court upholds Beleri verdict

Albania's Supreme Court on Friday upheld a verdict of the lower courts keeping a former elected mayor from the country's Greek minority in prison after he was convicted of buying votes.

A Supreme Court statement said that it upheld the verdicts of the court of first instance and the court of appeal which had sentenced Fredi Beleri, 51, to two years in prison.

Beleri, who has dual citizenship, is also a member of the European Parliament. He won a Greek seat in the EU legislature in elections last month, representing the governing conservative New Democracy party.

Beleri's office in Athens said Friday that prison authorities have granted him leave for five days to attend the opening session of the new Parliament in Strasbourg on July 16-21.

In Albania, prison department spokeswoman Fernanda Cenko said Beleri's leave request was "still being considered."