OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

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"I was arrested in a cinematic way, as a terrorist", Beleri for Kathimerini: Why Rama loves Himara at all costs

2023-07-09 15:38:42Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
"I was arrested in a cinematic way, as a terrorist", Beleri for
Fred Beller

The elected Mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri, has given an interview to the Greek media "Kathimerini", where he describes the conditions of his detention, fifty days after his arrest.

He has called his arrest a conspiracy because, according to him, they hit him when they learned how many Himariotes were preparing to come from Athens to vote and realized that they were losing in Himare.

He stated that his arrest was made two days before the election in a cinematic manner as if he was a terrorist, while he added that so far they have not summoned him to any investigative session, while the accusations against him are full of forgeries.

Beleri also thanked the Greek Prime Minister, saying that he expects the international community to seriously consider the detention and accusation against the elected mayor of Himara, who belongs to a minority.

Mr. Beleri, first of all, how are you, you have been detained for 50 days, what are the conditions you face inside the prison?

Friend, I am 50 years old. Not only my peers, but also the older ones, members of the ethnic Greek minority of Albania, we were born and raised in the Hoxha dictatorial system. For us, freedom and human rights are not self-evident, as they are for you. They are a constant battle to achieve. And when we have them, we live with the agony not to lose them.

For me, after my choice, it no longer matters where I am, but where I am not. I should have been in my position as Mayor of Himara, defending the rights of my fellow citizens, Albanians or Greeks. Throughout the electoral campaign, I spoke as an Albanian citizen who claims the progress and well-being of his country, his integration path in the EU.

An Albanian citizen of Greek origin who sees in the relations between the Greek Ethnic Minority and the Albanian Government a precedent for the Albanian state to convince the international community for the rule of law and liberal democracy that works throughout its territory.

What happened on the eve of the local administrative elections when you and your accomplice were arrested in the process of arrest in flagrante delicto and on the charge of attempted vote buying. Describe the events for us.

Nothing. The time limit that the regime had set for the state of crime to eliminate me was just coming to an end. They were shocked when they learned how many Himariotes were preparing to come from Athens to vote and realized that they were losing in Himare. For those who do not know, Himara is not considered a minority province by the Albanian authorities.

At dinner on Thursday, two days before the election, after an exhausting day, I was sitting in a cafe with my lawyer and a cousin of mine, discussing and relaxing.

There they arrested me in a cinematic manner similar to the arrest of international terrorists. They wanted to stop the wave of fellow citizens from Athens who came to vote, and to terrorize the Albanian citizens who supported me. Since then I have been detained and prevented from receiving my duties. Their goal is that, after completing my 3-month absence from the constitution of the Municipal Council, which took place on June 27, I will lose my post and the elections will be re-announced, as stipulated by the Albanian electoral law.

Did you and your colleague fall prey to any mistake that gave the Albanian authorities a pretext to accuse you?  

None. Almost 15 days before the election, it was clear from the electoral climate that I won. In the polls, more than 3 out of 10 Rama voters and 4 out of 10 Albanian voters voted for me and not his favorite, the outgoing mayor after a 12-year term. In the last 7 days, Rama himself launched a denigrating attack against me, with insults and characterizations unheard of in public discourse, while the regime's friendly media demanded reprisals against the Greek minority. I invited him to live up to the role of Prime Minister and assured him that the day after my election, I would only have problems as an opponent and I would rush to cooperate with him for as many years as he would be Prime Minister.

The regime wants the Municipality of Himara to definitely remain in its hands. If I will exercise my duties, I will come to my knowledge of evidence that today is not publicly accessible. It is about evidence of the kidnapping of the properties of the members of the Greek ethnic minority and their passing into the hands of "investors". You are talking about evidence of rape with the threat of not giving the title deeds and the obligation to sign a draft agreement to sell your property to the person they recommended.

How did they behave during the investigation?

I have not been called for any investigation session so far. They keep me for so long and they didn't even ask me my name!

Are you familiar with the court file? Are there elements that you can show us that prove that the criminal prosecution against you is not evidenced by concrete events, but has political motives?

Legal procedural violations are numerous. The court file that was given to us was practically empty, without any elementary evidence. The charge is full of illegality and forgery.

It is characteristic that my penalty certificate, which is included in the file, is falsified. It is different from the one that was issued 2 months before the elections and that we submitted to the Central Election Commission. The latter was clean, as it enabled me to register and announce myself as a candidate.

I am the only Albanian citizen, among 31 other criminal cases that refer to election violations in the last local elections, but also the only one in the 32 years that elections have been held, to whose detriment the restrictive condition of "detention" has been applied on the charge of a supporter of mine can buy votes, that is, with the accusation of cooperation in electoral corruption.

Despite these, I believe that there are judges in Albania. Very soon, some judge will raise his personality against the regime, protecting, not me, but the body of judges, the institution, but also the integration path of Albania in the EU, the rule of law and human rights.

What are the deeper causes of criminal prosecution? Why does Edi Rama's regime want, at any cost, to control the Municipality of Himara? What is the purpose? Is it aimed at the Greek minority or are the motives economic?

They are both complementary to each other. They support their investor friends and cut the umbilical cord connecting the Greek ethnic minority with the province, where they have their paternal wealth. By uprooting the Greek ethnic minority, they guarantee the interests of their fellow citizens.

We want to see our country develop and the members of the Greek ethnic minority enjoy well-being in their own country. And the regime will take advantage of the country's uniqueness and see the members of the Greek ethnic minority uprooted, definitively and irreversibly, after losing their ancestral property. Think how many of you have forgotten their village, since they did not preserve their patragonic wealth there.

Besides, with my persecution and detention, the regime sends a message for today and for the future, a message of its determination. Prison and the de facto denial of the right to vote is a clear message of demonstration of force and terror. The fear will reign that whoever reacts to the regime will meet the same end.

Do you believe that your pursuit and detention takes on the character of an ethnic problem affecting Greece-Albania relations?

First, give me the opportunity to thank the Prime Minister of Greece with all my heart, but also the entire political class of the country and the Greek society, including the Greek MEPs, for their decisive, essential and correct support until now.

Greece, as the homeland of democracy, understands the importance of violating the right to vote. I don't want the regime's behavior towards me to affect Albanian-Greek relations. But I claim and hope that it counts as an opportunity for Albania to change its behavior towards the Greek minority and transform into a state of law, a liberal democracy.

I expect the international community to look seriously at the detention and accusation against the Elected Mayor of Himara, who belongs to a minority. The protection of human rights and the principles of democracy is a collective exercise and not a unilateral effort. Both the President of the United States and the President of the European Union and the heads of international organizations, and the Mayor of Himara or the Mayor in every corner of the Western world, defend the same democracy, the same human rights, the same rule of law.

What is your message to the citizens of Himara and how do you assess the continuation of your case?

I ask them to show patience, not to lose their faith in democracy and the rule of law, to continue to defend the law.

Because, on May 15, democracy won in Himare. I am grateful to all those who showed courage, but also to all those who subjected you to terror.

For me there are no winners and losers. All the citizens of Himara and I, as the first and equal Mayor among them, will soon march, united, to be even stronger.

Personally, take strength from their strength and endure as a citizen who has learned to defend his ideas for freedom and democracy. Good to meet you!


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

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