Beleri

Monday's decision by an Albanian court to grant the release of the ethnic Greek elected mayor of Himare and MEP for New Democracy Fredi Beleri after 16 months of detention essentially ended his personal adventure but does not lead to an automatic improvement in Greek-Albanian relations, which have been seriously damaged by the affair.

An Albanian court on Wednesday postponed the hearing for jailed MEP Fredi Beleri's request for conditional release until September 2.

Beleri's request for release, having served two-thirds of his sentence, has been previously delayed because the prison director failed to provide the court with the ethnic Greek politician's criminal record. 

Albania's Special Appeals Court for Corruption and Organized Crime has postponed for December 11 the examination of a request from Fredi Beleri, the elected mayor of Himara currently in pretrial detention, who is seeking permission to be sworn in before the municipal council.