Konstantina Kamitsi

Albania's Special Appeals Court for Corruption and Organized Crime has postponed for December 11 the examination of a request from Fredi Beleri, the elected mayor of Himara currently in pretrial detention, who is seeking permission to be sworn in before the municipal council.

The message from Athens to Tirana in Greek Ambassador Konstantina Kamitsi's statements to the Albanian press by was clear: The ongoing detainment of the ethnic Greek mayor-elect of Himare in Albania will be a thorn in the side of Greek-Albanian relations for some time to come.

Greece's ambassador to Albania has described the absence of the mayor-elect of the predominantly ethnic Greek city of Himare in southern Albania from the first meeting of its new council as a "great blow to the rule of law and the presumption of innocence."

The secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Theocharis Lalakos, is expected to arrive in Albania on Wednesday, acting on the orders of Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, in order to meet with the new mayor of Himara, Dionysis-Fredi Beleri, and his aide Pantelis Kokavessis, who have both been jailed on remand in a Tirana prison, according to diplomatic sources.

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.