From prison to the massacre of Peshpia/ Fredi Beleri speaks without gloves

2024-09-10 19:55:00, Aktualitet CNA

From prison to the massacre of Peshpia/ Fredi Beleri speaks without gloves

Fred Beller

Fredi Beleri was released from prison on Monday, September 2, and on September 9 he went to Brussels, where he will serve as a member of the European Parliament.

The former elected mayor of Himara was charged shortly before the 12th local elections in May 2023 after attempting to buy votes.

In an interview with the Greek media Kathimerini, Beleri talks about the tension between him and Prime Minister Edi Rama, as well as about the initiatives he plans to take in the European Parliament.

What was the prison like? How were you treated by the prison staff?

I was treated well, very well, in fact. I was treated with respect and given some special privileges, like five visits a month instead of four. I don't know if they did this of their own accord or if they had orders from above.

So you have no complaints about the Albanian authorities, at least in this area?

In this area, normal. But, of course, they never gave me permission to be sworn in as mayor and delayed my release report after I had served two-thirds of my sentence by a month and a half. They didn't want me to come out before the last municipal elections in Himare.

Why were Athens' efforts to secure your early release unsuccessful?

I believe that Mr. Rama has invested in this whole affair to show the Albanian nationalists that he has maintained a firm line with Greece and will not be intimidated by anyone. Nationalism "sells" well in Albania. This was actually the purpose of his trip to Athens in May, to show the Greek government that he has power, that he can instrumentalize the Albanian immigrants in Greece and cause problems. He didn't achieve that, but that was his goal.

Is it true that you told the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in 2022 that you should not run for mayor of Himara and that a more widely accepted candidate should run instead?

Yes, six months before the May 2023 elections, I said to Mitsotakis: "President, it will not work for you to have Rama as a friend and I have him as a rival. Wouldn't it be better to find a candidate for mayor acceptable to everyone?" I was prepared to withdraw from the race.

But Mitsotakis refused?

Mitsotakis discussed it with Rama and Rama said, "I'm fine with that, let Beleri run." He was sure that his candidate would beat me, so he didn't want anyone to share.

You have expressed your intention to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the decisions of the Albanian authorities regarding your imprisonment. What do you hope to achieve?

I can't leave it at that. I demand justice, even belatedly. As you know, the European Court takes a long time to hear a case and issue a decision. There are two additional levels in the Albanian justice system, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. I will go to Strasbourg after the process is over. What I want is that they never dare to do the same thing to another person.

What did other MEPs have to say to you when you first went to Strasbourg as a "youngster"? What did your fellow New Democracy MEP, Vangelis Meimarakis, say?

Meimarakis was the warmest to me, but all Greek MEPs, from all parties, were very welcoming and eager to help me and offer advice.

Will you open an office in Himare?

I am the MEP for Greece, so my offices will be in Athens, Ioannina and Brussels.

What is your agenda?

I don't have an agenda of my own. I am an MEP for the Hellenic Republic, for New Democracy and for the European People's Party (EPP) – this is my frame of reference. I am part of four committees of the European Parliament and I will do everything I can, together with my colleagues, to protect national interests.

Are minority issues not on your docket?

As a member of the Committee for Legal Affairs and Human Rights, I will be involved in the issue of violations of the rights of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania, so that I can help Albanians become full members of the European family, which is something. this requires it to support the European acquis. A European Albania must ensure that we will be treated as equals in the countries where we were born and raised. I will probably be part of the delegation dealing with the European Union-Albania connection.

Are you ready to have contact with the government in Tirana?

Of course. I will not act on my whims. I always talked to everyone. I never had a problem with anyone. What was done to me was a great injustice and dishonor. They prevented me from taking my oath and taking office. But this will not prevent me from being as objective as possible and promoting good relations.

However, many in Albania accuse you of being a nationalist, of representing the extreme Greek side, partly as a result of your arrest in 1995 in Greece, near the border with Albania, with a gun in the car. Think you can convince these people that you're a moderate?

I was 22 at the time, that was 30 years ago. The case has gone through all levels of the Greek justice system and has been tried three more times in Albania, and I have been acquitted in each of these trials. I don't know what kind of legal culture allows us to keep referring to an incident in 1995, when a career of 30 years has passed.

Do you plan to raise the issue of property rights in Himare while serving in Brussels?

Of course. Property is a basic human right, it is at the core of human rights. Without property there can be no growth, nothing.

You are in possession of a 2011 study funded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which presents more than 2000 property titles in Himare. Why didn't you do it publicly? Do you plan to submit to the European Parliament?

It is not a secret report. The OSCE sent it to foreign embassies, the Greek state and the municipality of Himara. I actually got it from the municipality. It is a public document. And of course I will submit it to the European Parliament. I am also thinking of submitting it to the special corruption prosecutor of Albania, SPAK, where it is said that there is a real effort to fight corruption. So this report clearly shows that most of the land titles are fake.

Are you saying that the report presents a valid map of who owns what, with evidence, while another map is currently being drawn up based on forgery?

Exactly. This is the shared secret: that the forgery has taken place.

There are rumors that investments are continuing in Himare, that new buildings continue to appear. Is there any truth in them?

There is. Ten licenses were issued last month alone and none related to property owned by a pub. These are investors coming from other fields.

Tirana has claimed that you are at the vanguard of a Greek effort to gain control of Albania's southern coast so that, in combination with Corfu down the road, Greece will have a zone of control in Albania. How do you answer?

The claim that I am some kind of Trojan horse in a Greek tourism strategy is simply ridiculous. It is a beautiful pretext on which to build a nationalist narrative. You will not find any Greek investment in Himara or on the coastal front where the Greek minority lives. I'm not happy about it, but it's the truth – and it's not at all flattering for us Greeks either.

It seems that the issue of Himara will remain a thorn in Greek-Albanian relations. There are two things that are non-negotiable: our right to the property of our ancestors and our right to self-determination.

Is there a self-determination issue?

Haven't you heard about the recording scandal? Omonoia party of the Democratic Union of the Greek Minority] had boycotted the 2011 census, which estimated us at about 26,000. At the last census, which we did not boycott, our numbers are [estimated] at less than 25,000. I would say that in Albania there are about 40 thousand ethnic Greeks and based on the law we could have included those who live outside Albania. For example, almost 250,000 are in Greece.

And could they have been included in the Albanian census?

Of course. Say that I live in Himare, but my wife and children are in Athens. I have the right to count them as part of my family. However, our estimated number came in below 25,000. How does this make sense.

How many Greeks live in Himara today, according to the census?

30,000 people are registered in the Himara registration office and 8,000 of them appear in the registration. How many of them are Greek and how many Albanians we will find out in November. Although registration ended last November, data for each region has not yet been released.

Why the delay?

Right? Why the delay? The data does not need processing. They are ready. But they've only announced the total population, which officially shrank by about 440,000 compared to 2011. I believe the real number is probably around a million, and I say that because it's impossible to find workers. We have a massive shortage of manpower, that is why the monthly salary last year was 400 euros and now it is 1000 euros.

Vangjel Tavo, an ethnic Greek, ended up being elected mayor of Himara. You had supported his rival. Why can't Tavo reach the consensus needed to address the problem?

If that's what they wanted, they should have called and suggested that Tavo be the consensus candidate, but they didn't. Rama suddenly decided one morning that Tavo was the good Greek and we in Omonoia are the bad Greeks.

Are you saying that there is division within the Greek community? That the Greeks cannot unite even in Albania?

We are not united anywhere in the world. What kind of Greeks would we be if we were united?

I agree with you!

Look, Mr. Tavo is a political vagabond. He has done a job in every Albanian political party, he will go anywhere when it is in his personal interest. I had not publicly insulted Rama until my arrest. Tavo accused him of being a thief and of buying votes against him. And that he took his place in 2022 in Gjirokastër.

Yes, but Tavo says that all this is in his favor, because it proves that he does not belong to any party.

When is Tavo telling the truth? When did he accuse Rama of illegal activity and that he stole his chair or now that he is with him? The things I have to say about Rama are nothing compared to what Tavo has said about him.