Ethnic Greek politician Fredi Beleri left an Albanian jail on Monday to travel to Strasbourg and take the oath as a European Parliament lawmaker. Beleri, who is serving a two-year sentence on vote-buying charges, will return to jail following the ceremony.
Beleri, a member of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy Party, won a seat in the European Parliament while incarcerated. Local media showed him leaving jail in a Greek embassy diplomatic car.
Arrested in May 2023 during a mayoral election campaign in his hometown of Himare, which has a significant ethnic Greek community, Beleri won the mayoral vote but was never sworn in. He was held in pre-trial detention and sentenced to two years in jail for election fraud in March 2024.
At Tirana airport, Beleri told media, “I am going to Athens now and tomorrow I will be in Strasbourg to take part in the first meeting of the [European] Parliament.”
His case has heightened tensions between Albania and Greece, neighbors with a history of cultural and historical disputes, compounded by significant Albanian immigration to Greece and the Greek minority in Albania. It remains uncertain how Beleri will fulfill his duties as a European Parliament lawmaker during his remaining prison time, as he is required to return to jail by July 20.
Earlier this month, Beleri lost an appeal, which upheld his vote-buying conviction. He has accused Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama of orchestrating a plot against him, a claim Rama has consistently denied, asserting the case is a judicial matter, not a political one.
