By Andi Bushati/ How much is Beler's head worth to Rama?

2023-08-15 17:36:00, Opinione Andi Bushati

By Andi Bushati/ How much is Beler's head worth to Rama?

Analyst Andi Bushati

Edi Rama is stuck in the walrus of two truths, thanks to the personal decision to imprison the candidate of the Himarë municipality, Fredi Beleri, a few days before the May 14 elections. On the one hand, he is aware that he wins points with that part of the Albanians who cannot honor those who consider Himara Greek. Not infrequently these days we have heard the expression "well done, he doesn't even know how to speak Albanian".

But, on the other hand, this victory by the nationalist populist risks having a very salty price. The Prime Minister seems to be feeling this concern, which is touching threads higher and higher in Brussels and Washington. Hellenic diplomacy, its MEPs and Greek lobby activists are set in motion to sensitize the Euro-Atlantic institutions. Perceiving the wave of this cauldron that is brewing and that reached the boiling point with a protest of Greek deputies and mayors in Himare, the prime minister decided to justify himself with an open letter, written more to be read in Athens than in Tirana. After expressing his highest regard for his counterpart Misotakis, after borrowing Enver's expression "two friendly peoples", Edi Rama lined up his alibis.

How could Beleri be released when three levels of Albanian justice have decided that he should stay in prison - he asked. How could this happen, when SPAK has also proceeded with many others to buy votes? Why should his ethnic affiliation be a privilege while justice had also imprisoned mayors from the ruling party?

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So, having as a guide the expression "obey the law", which he had put at the head of the writing, the prime minister had to wash his hands saying that this was not his job, but justice.

In principle, as formal logic this seems perfect. No one should interfere in the work of the prosecution and the courts, and even less do foreign authorities from neighboring countries have this right. But, in fact, it is different and they know this, both in Tirana and in Athens. Fredi Beller's imprisonment is political and it was ordered from above. There are many facts that prove this. The police file against him was opened only two days after the SP Himare rally, when the prime minister attacked him with language unworthy of even a halabak. He was a machination of the operational forces, which he used to set up the trap, a police infiltrator. He was arrested in flagrante delicto while leaving the cafe. Although everything that happened was under surveillance by cameras and by a multitude of agents, they could not prove the giving of money to buy votes. When everyone knew that the electoral crimes belong to SPAK, the case was taken to the prosecutor's office in Vlora and the decision to imprison was taken by the court of this city and not the special one.

So, it doesn't take much to understand that this is a machination worthy of an autocratic regime, which allows itself to brutally intervene in an election contest. And if you add to these facts the background of the denigrating campaign that Edi Rama himself developed, in the television studio, against the minority candidate, there is no longer any doubt as to whose hand is behind all this.

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Therefore, the alibis that it was the merit of the justice that caught the buying of votes by Beleri, while the same justice did not notice anything about what Tom Doshi's PSD did, are ridiculous.

Both diplomats and Greek politicians who demand the unconditional release of the prisoner know this very well. And if you add to this fact the fanatical nationalism that is a widespread virus in Greek diplomacy, the sensitivity they have towards the ethnic atavisms of the past, the non-negotiable fanaticism in the defense of Greek-speaking spaces, the situation risks becoming disturbing. We experienced such a situation in Albania at the time when Berisha arrested, more or less in the same way, five exponents of the Greek minority. The consequences were so traumatic that even today, there are many who believe that the overthrow of the former president in '97 was the result of the strong lobbying of Athens. Of course, things have changed since then. The weight and role of Athens has diminished, while the financial and lobbying power of Tirana is much different from that of the early 90s. But one thing remains. The Greek authorities, as evidenced by Monday's protest in Himarru, have taken the Beleri file with anger. The fact that the presidency of the European Commission is talking about hindering the country's progress towards the EU, or that rumors have been heard in the American senate about the violation of the rule of law by the authorities in Tirana, are only the first signs.

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In general, for its own reasons, the West has tolerated Rama's increasingly autocratic regime. But the Beleri file and the Balkan persistence to the point of Athens' obsession with it, could change things. This affair risks turning into a temptation to test what the international community has so far been silent about: how the justice system has been captured and politicized and the farce of the supposedly democratic elections in this country.

For its completely narrow interests, which are not necessarily in the interest of the Albanians, Greece can provoke an international debate that reveals the two feet of clay on which Rama's autocratic power rests. Therefore, although he has made for himself a populist party that supports him in "breaking the vile Greek in prison", Rama is worried by Athens' insistence. He feels he has more to lose than to gain from this clash. He realizes that Greek anger can serve as a mirror for the sins of his power. Knowing this, he tried to calm the waters by publishing an open letter. But unfortunately, no one can believe the ridiculous alibi that this is a matter of justice.