Albanian appeals court upholds prison term for Greek minority mayor, raising tensions with Athens

TIRANA, Albania. An Albanian appeals court on Tuesday upheld a two-year prison sentence for an elected mayor from the country’s Greek minority, in a move expected to further exacerbate tensions with neighboring Greece.

The appeals court refused to change the verdict of the trial court in March on Dhionisios Alfred Beleris, 51, imprisoned on charges of vote buying in last year’s municipal elections.

Beleris, who has dual citizenship, also won a Greek seat in the European Parliamentrepresenting the ruling conservative New Democracy party, in the EU elections earlier this month.

Last year, Beleris was elected mayor of Himare, 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital, Tirana. He was arrested two days before the vote, accused of offering 40,000 Albanian leks (360 euros at the time) to buy eight votes. Beleris was never sworn in because he was detained and later sentenced to two years in prison.

Beleris has denied the charges and Athens has described his detention as politically motivated.

Greece had asked the Albanian government to stop the proceedings against Beleris, saying the case could negatively affect Albania’s application to join the European Union. Albania, a candidate country, is in the process of negotiating its full membership.

The Albanian government He said he couldn’t do anything while the case was in court.

Legislators in the European Parliament enjoy substantial legal immunity from legal proceedings, even if the accusations relate to crimes committed before their election.

In Beleris’ case, that rule is unlikely to affect the outcome, as he is serving time for a crime committed in a non-EU country.

“It is a fully democratic request that members of the European Parliament can be present in person at all parliamentary sessions starting in July,” said Greece’s ambassador to Albania, Kostantina Kamitsi.

six countries The Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) are at different stages of their EU membership applications. Croatia was the last EU member country to be accepted in 2013.

Western concerns about regional stability sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have added urgency to the accession process.

Greece and Albania, a former communist country and current member of NATO, historically have a tense relationship with sometimes uneasy relations, largely over issues of rights for the Greek minority and the sizeable Albanian community in Greece.