Greek conservatives put jailed Albania mayor-elect on EU ticket

Greece's ruling conservative party on Monday put on its list for June's European Parliament elections a jailed ethnic Greek mayor-elect in Albania whose case has strained relations with Tirana.

Fredi Beleri in March was sentenced to two years in prison for buying votes ahead of his election as mayor of Himara last May.

Held since May 12, Beleri says his arrest was politically motivated.

"My crime is that we in Himara want to be masters of our ancestral land. My crime is that my countrymen elected me mayor against the plans of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama," he said in a statement last month.

Rama has dismissed the accusations as "delusional".

The Beleri case has caused friction between Athens and Tirana, with the Greek government expressing concern "regarding the impartiality of the legal proceedings".

Beleri was among ethnic Greek officials who had welcomed Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a visit to Himara in December 2022.

In a statement in March, the Greek foreign ministry called his two-year sentence "obviously disproportionate to the extent of the alleged offense".

Last May, Athens also warned that the case could impact Albania's EU accession efforts.