Tirana

The Special Court of Tirana will decide on Monday whether Fredi Beleri, the recently-elected ethnic Greek mayor of Himare in southern Albania, and his aide Panteli Kokavesi will be released or if their pretrial detention will continue, sources in the Albanian capital said on Friday.

A temporary lull in Greek-Albanian diplomatic tensions has arisen ahead of the Greek elections after interventions from Washington, Berlin and Brussels.

Diplomatic tensions rose between Athens and Tirana after the arrest and imprisonment of the newly elected ethnic Greek mayor of Himare, Fredi Beleri, just two days before local elections in the neighboring country.

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.

Athens hosted an art exhibition a couple of months ago at its iconic Zappeion Hall venue where Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was able to express his creative side. Late last year, Kyriakos Mitsotakis paid an official visit to Himare, becoming the first Greek prime minister to visit one of the main ethnic Greek towns in Albania in 30 years.

The Socialist Party led by Prime Minister Edi Rama is ahead in most municipalities in the country after Sunday's local elections and has already won three, Kamza, Vora and Elbasan, where the voting took place electronically and the Central Election Commission was able to declare the results a few hours after polls closed.

Fredi Beleri, the candidate representing the Greek minority, emerged victorious over his opponent Jorgo Goro, who had the backing of the Edi Rama government, in the race for the mayor of Himara in Albania's local elections.

The official results were announced Monday after an earlier interruption in the vote counting process.

A court in Albania decided on Saturday to detain until his trial an ethnic Greek mayoral candidate in the southern Albanian municipality of Himara, Fredi Beleri, after he was charged with vote-buying.

A crisis in relations between Athens and Tirana has been sparked by the arrest of the candidate for mayor of Himare, Greek expatriate Dionysis-Fredi Beleri, two days before the municipal elections in the neighboring country.

Albania's Socialist Prime Minister, Edi Rama, has rejected opposition claims of blackmailing voters over access to government funds.

On Wednesday he said his threats to block funds to municipalities run by opposition mayors were a consequence of opposition leader Sali Berisha's designation by the US State Department as "being involved in significant corruption".

As Elvira Kova, a member of the delegation of the Serbian Assembly to the Council of Europe and vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE, said, at yesterday's session of the PSSE Bureau, it was decided to create only information about Albania's initiative.