TIRANA, May 13 – Foreign Minister Olta Xhaçka has responded to the statement of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the arrest of the candidate of the “Together We Win” coalition in Himara, Fredi Beleri.
Xhaçka called in a post on social networks on Saturday on Athens to refrain from statements that do not respect the independent institutions of Albania.
The candidate of the coalition “We win together” for the municipality of Himara, Fredi Beleri was arrested shortly after midnight on Friday under the charge of buying votes for the local elections of 14 May.
“It is difficult to understand how our Greek friends oppose a court decision in our country, when the hard evidence they were looking for is very clear. Fredi Beleri has been caught engaging in criminal activity against free and fair elections,” said Albanian top diplomat in her tit-for-tat reaction to the harsh statement of the Greek Foreign Ministry.
According to her, we do not understand how having Greek citizenship can exclude Beleri from the law as a citizen of Albania. “We call on our Greek friends to refrain from statements that do not respect the independent institutions of our country,” concluded the short statement by Xhacka.
Albanian government officials have been careful in their reactions towards the highest Greek authorities, including the Prime Minister, which have been short using ‘selected’ words differently from previous occasions when even PM Edi Rama has been harsh towards Athens. /argumentum.al
