Unity for Human Rights Party

The extension of the detention of Fredi Beleri, the recently elected ethnic Greece mayor of Himare in Albania, "is contrary to the common sense of justice and the European concept of the rule of law," the Greek Foreign Ministry underlined in a statement on Monday.

A Greek expatriate mayoral candidate in the southern Albanian municipality of Himara, Fredi Beleri, was arrested at midnight on Thursday by the Albanian police outside his business premises on suspicion of paying people for their votes, causing strong condemnation from officials in Athens.

Albanians will vote in local elections on Sunday, May 14. Given the fragmentation of the main opposition Democratic Party, Prime Minister Edi Rama of the left-wing Socialist Party is practically unchallenged.

Besides not having any added value in its content, the new bill on national minorities in Albania marks a step back.
This was declared today by the head of the Unity for Human Rights Party, Vangelis Dule in the debates that are taking place in Parliament on this bill, in response to the fact that the Albanian Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati and PM Edi Rama championed the bill.

Massive demonstrations take place for a second day in a row in the Albanian capital of Tirana with thousands of people from all over the country participating.