Fredi Beleri, the former mayor of Himara, Albania, whose imprisonment sparked a diplomatic dispute between Tirana and Athens, has been conditionally released from prison, he announced on social media on September 2. 

The release is a significant moment in a case that has strained relations between Albania and Greece. Athens has repeatedly threatened to hold up Albania’s EU accession progress unless Beleri, a member of Albania’s ethnic Greek minority, is released. 

Beleri was jailed in May 2023 and convicted by a final court ruling in June 2024 on charges related to vote-buying. Despite his arrest, he was elected mayor of the coastal town of Himara. 

His imprisonment became a cause celebre in Greece, and he was elected a member of the European Parliament on the ticket of Greece’s ruling New Democracy party in May this year. Albanian authorities allowed him to leave prison in July to travel to Strasbourg, where he was sworn in as an MEP. 

His supporters have lobbied ceaselessly for his release on social media with the hashtag #freeBeleri. 

Following the court’s decision, Beleri vowed to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights. 

“After 16 months of straight confinement, I am now free and proud, but definitely not happy. Why the rule of Law and the Democracy in Albania were not restored, the institutions did not function, the Justice was not delivered the way it should have been,” Beleri wrote on Facebook. 

He claimed the charges against him were politically motivated, while Albania's government has denied any involvement in his arrest, with politicians including Prime Minister Edi Rama saying justice must take its course.

New local elections were held in Himara in August, which saw a victory for the Socialist Party candidate backed by Rama.