The decision of the Central Electoral Commission to revoke Himare mayor-elect Fredi Beleri's mandate raises questions about the state of the rule of law in Albania, the Greek Foreign Ministry Association said on Friday.
Beleri, who has been elected to the European Parliament under New Democracy on June 9 in Greece, has been detained since May 2023 on charges of voter fraud, an accusation he has repeatedly denied. Greece has protested his detention repeatedly and internationally.
"Today's decision by the Central Electoral Commission of Albania for the deposing of Fredi Beleri without even having been sworn in as mayor of Himare comprises an unprecedented practice and the preannounced conclusion of a process with several question marks in relation to the fundamental principles of the rule of law," the ministry said in a statement.
"Greece has expressed in a timely manner its great concern over the deprivation of the presumption of innocence, the integrity of the process of proof, the ban to be sworn in and the disproportional sentence imposed, as well as the fact that the City of Himare has being administered for a year by non-legitimized individuals," the statement added.
The ministry underlined once again the obligation of Albanian authorities to take all necessary measures to provide Beleri, an elected member of the European Parliament, with the immediate opportunity to attend its works, starting with its plenary session in Strasbourg on July 16.