They close all the doors to Freddy Beleris

Two years in prison imposed yesterday the Albanian Special Court on the elected mayor of Heimarra Freddy Beleris, finding him guilty of attempted vote buying, while also finding his partner Pantelis Kokavesis guilty, imposing 18 months in prison with a three-year suspension. After the announcement of the decision, Freddy Beleris said in a statement that his fight will continue until “the end of this case”. His next battle for justice is now postponed to the summer (June – July) when the Court of Appeal is expected to take place, where if the decision is condemnatory – and since he has not had time to be sworn in as mayor so that he can appoint a deputy mayor – he himself is removed from office office of the mayor and elections are held again in the Municipality of Heimarra.

In fact, the very time of the imposed sentence reeks of method as it lacks legal logic, since all the previous decisions of the Special Court for the same charge corresponded to one year suspended, a sentence that would have allowed Freddy Beleris to be released and sworn in as mayor as the Court of Appeal. As legal sources explain, in the Albanian system the one year someone remains in pre-trial detention counts for one and a half years. Well, in the case of Freddy Belleris, who has been in prison for 10 months, the prison time would count for 15 months. So a one-year sentence would have meant he would have been released, which is why he was given two years to be in prison until September and in the meantime the case has been finalized in the Court of Appeal in order for him to be removed from office .

“The sentencing decision heightens the concerns raised regarding the objectivity of the process,” the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, pointing out that “the final sentence is obviously disproportionate to the extent of the alleged offense.” According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “the selective application of judicial decisions and the discounting of judicial decisions are not consistent with the principles of the rule of law. The Greek government will closely monitor the case and looks forward to a fair and objective judgment at the second level of jurisdiction.”

In his statement after the hearing, Freddy Beleris spoke of a “parody trial” and announced his intention to continue his fight for justice and democracy in the name of his fellow citizens, who, as his brother Leonardo Beleris mentioned, they take this decision as a threat to themselves and their property.

“It was a mock trial. With a fake criminal record, no evidence, no witnesses other than one sponsored by the police, an “appointed” judge, in a glass cage without communication with my lawyer, the Albanian court sentenced me to two years in prison. My crime is that my compatriots Heimarrai elected me mayor against the plans of the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. I leave the judges to the mockery of the Albanian people. I will continue my fight for justice and democracy in the name of my fellow citizens. Sooner or later, I will find justice. I have as much patience as it takes to get to the bottom of this case,” he commented, among other things. Earlier, during his apology, he had made clear his certainty that his case “was and remains a purely political issue”.

“The plan was to arrest me in order to lose the elections and to release me again a week after the elections,” he said, responding to the Prosecution’s proposal for 2 years and 6 months in prison. In his letter to the ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union in Albania and the ambassador chargé d’affaires of the USA, Freddy Beleris spoke of false witnesses, declaring himself a victim of “illegal police actions, motivated by the public insulting and insulting attacks of Edi Rama” against him of.

• “The condemnation Beleri not only provokes Greece, but shows contempt for the rules that govern the EU. Therefore, today’s Albania of Rama has no place in Europe,” former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said.