TIRANA, Albania — Albanian election authorities on Friday stripped an ethnic Greek minority mayor of his post after he was imprisoned on charges of vote-buying in municipal elections last year.
A new election will be held Aug. 4.
Fredis Beleris, 51, was elected mayor of the Albanian city of Himare — a town in the Albanian Riviera 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital, Tirana, that has a Greek minority presence — in May 2023. He was arrested two days before the election while allegedly offering 40,000 Albanian leks (360 euros; $390) to buy eight votes.
Last month an Albanian appeals court upheld a two-year prison sentence for Beleris, a move which exacerbated tensions with neighboring Greece.
In response to Friday's decision, the Greek foreign ministry issued a statement saying Beleris' case ''raises several questions concerning fundamental principles of the rule of law'' in Albania.
Beleris belongs to the Human Rights Union Party of the ethnic Greek minority, but in last year's municipal vote he was the candidate for a coalition that also included the center-left Freedom Party of former President Ilir Meta and a breakaway group from the center-right opposition Democratic Party of former Prime Minister and President Sali Berisha.
Beleris has denied the charges, and Athens has described his detention as politically motivated.
Beleris, who has dual citizenship, also won a Greek seat in the European Parliament representing the governing conservative New Democracy party in European Union elections last month.
