Ethnic Greek local politician released from Albanian jail

PRISTINA (Reuters) - An ethnic Greek politician in Albania who also has Greek citizenship was released from jail on Monday in a case that has sparked tensions between Albania and neighbouring Greece.

Fredis Beleris was arrested in May 2023 during a mayoral election campaign in his Albanian hometown of Himare, which has an active ethnic Greek community. He won the vote while in detention but was never sworn in, and was convicted last March of election fraud through vote-buying.

Athens said Beleris, known as Fredi Beleri in Greek, had been wrongly convicted and that the charges were politically motivated.

Greece's ruling conservative New Democracy Party nominated Beleris as one of its candidates for the European Parliament in a gesture of support, and in June he duly won a seat, travelling to Strasbourg to take his oath before returning to jail.

Relations between Albania and its neighbour have periodically been soured by cultural and historical differences as well as the treatment of the many Albanian immigrants in Greece and the Greek minority in Albania.

Beleris' lawyer, Geni Gjyzari, told local media that a court in the town of Fier had accepted a request for early release.

Beleris said in a written statement that, after 16 months of continuous detention, "I am now free and proud, but certainly not happy, because the rule of law and democracy in Albania were not restored".

He has accused Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama of orchestrating a plot against him, an accusation repeatedly denied by Rama, who says the matter is judicial, not political.

A Greek government spokesperson told media on Monday that Athens welcomed Beleris' release "but has by no means forgotten what happened a few months ago".

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Additional reporting by Karolina Tagaris and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Editing by Kevin Liffey)