The decision on the elected mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri, was postponed during today’s session at the GJKKO (Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime). The decision will be made on March 5 at 13:00.
During today’s session, the defense of the elected mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri, read its conclusions for more than 3 hours, where lawyer Geni Gjyzari summarized all his claims in 54 pages. The focus was mainly on the evidence where he demanded the invalidity and unusability of all interceptions and observations made by the Prosecutor’s Office of Vlora, the Police and then SPAK. According to him, the trial of the case for Fredi Beleri and Pandeli Kokaveshi is invalid because it was based on evidence that was not obtained in accordance with the law.
“All the actions of the police were done before the Prosecutor’s Office of Vlora registered the criminal proceedings. Arsen Rama’s testimony is unbelievable as he changed his statements 3 times. It was proven in court that he was paid after the case came to SPAK. It has not been proven that Arsen Rama met Fredi Beleri, but another person who testified in court and confirmed that he is the one who appears in the video. The phone found in a car that according to the prosecution belongs to Pandeli Kokaveshi, the latter was not present at the time the evidence was seized, which raises doubts as to whether the phone belongs to the defendant”.
Gjyzari also stopped at a strong conclusion when he said that Arsen Rama from May 8 to 12 was not in Vlora but in Himara, proven by the expertise of telephone waves, a statement he repeated in a statement to the media.
In this Wednesday’s session, Beleri himself asked to testify, but the relator Erion Çela said that due to exceeding the official schedule and the time the troupe needs in the counseling room, the session had to be postponed. Meanwhile, the other defendant Pandeli Kokaveshi, whose measure was changed after the arrest due to his serious health condition, addressed the Court with only two sentences.
“God has punished me more than you can punish me. He asked that if I am sentenced, you take into account my condition and that of my daughter, if I am found guilty, it is impossible for me to serve probation due to my health condition”.
We remind you that SPAK has proposed a sentence of 2.6 years in prison for Beleri.
Meanwhile, the issue of the permission that Beleri requested to take the oath in the position he was elected is also being discussed, for which an answer is expected on March 19 from the Constitutional Court of Albania.
The elected mayor of Himara has been in prison since before the elections on May 14, 2023, on charges of vote buying.
