A politician who is a minority Greek in Albania returned to prison in that country today after being allowed five days of absence to participate in the inaugural session of the new European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg after being elected as an MEP of the ruling party in Greece.
Fredis Beleris, who has dual Greek and Albanian citizenship, is serving a two-year prison sentence for buying votes during local elections last year in Albania.
He denies the accusations, and Greece believes that he is being politically persecuted.
"I don't regret going back to the (prison) cell," Beleris (51) said after arriving at Tirana International Airport.
The politician won a seat in the European Parliament in the EP elections last month on the ticket of Greece's ruling New Democracy party. He won 238.801 votes, ranking fourth among the seven MEPs elected from that party.
Members of the European Parliament have immunity from prosecution within the 27 member states of the union even for allegations related to acts committed before their election to the EP. But Albania is not yet a member of the EU.
Beleris was arrested two days before local elections on May 14, 2023 in Himara, a coastal town with a large Greek minority, 220 kilometers southwest of the capital Tirana. He was accused of offering around 40.000 Albanian lek (360 euros) to buy eight votes.
In last year's local elections, he won with a margin of 19 votes with the support of the Greek minority party and other opponents of the ruling Socialists of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
But he never took office as he was in custody pending his sentencing in March. The appeals court upheld the verdict last month and the Albanian authorities stripped Beleris of the post of mayor of Himara, where elections will be repeated on August 4.
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