The Special Court against Organized Crime and Corruption rejected today the request of the elected mayor of Himara Municipality, Fredi Beleri, to take the oath of office.
Beleri has been insisting for months he be given the right to be sworn in front of the members of the city’s Municipal Council.
The head of the party related to the Greek minority PBDNJ, Vangjel Dule, in a statement to the media, considers the court’s decision unfair.
“The text, the drafting of the decision, has an exclusive author, he is PM Edi Rama. He (Beleri) is being deprived of his basic right, every citizen of the Himara community is being deprived of the right to choose. PM Rama wants to keep in the municipality a mayor who was not voted by the citizens, to continue to alienate the properties, to the detriment of the interests of the residents and in favor of clientelistic interests.
“This is not an intervention in justice, but an opinion that every citizen has the right to express. The intervention is Rama’s interview a week ago, and most journalists did not have the courage to challenge it. A dangerous precedent is being created, which violates the rule of law and democracy,” said Dule.
A group of citizens gathered in front of the Special Court against Organized Crime and Corruption in support of the elected mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri, protested against the decision. They held placards that read “Himara chose Fredi Beleri”, while chanting “Down with the dictatorship”.
Beleri previously submitted the request to be sworn in two institutions, before the General Directorate of Prisons, a request that was rejected and then this request was also submitted to the SPAK prosecution, which was also rejected.
In the last session on Fredi Beleri’s oath, the General Directorate of Prisons and the Detention Directorate of Durrës, where Fredi Beler is held, requested time after listening to both parties. Beleri claims that there is a constitutional violation and that he is being banned from taking the oath, while on the other hand the General Directorate of Prisons and SPAK have insisted that the conditions are not suitable to give him the right to go and take the oath in Himara in the southwestern Albanian coast.
In this court, there are two cases for Beleri, the one of corruption in the May 14 elections for which he was arrested, and the second case where he insists on going to be sworn in the position.
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