ATHENS – Given a 5-day furlough from an Albanian jail where he’s serving a two year sentence in what he said was a political imprisonment, ethnic Greek Mayor Fredi Beleri met with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, talking after he was elected a Member of the European Parliament on the New Democracy ticket.

Beleri was convicted of what he said was a bogus charge of buying votes that he said was engineered by the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama so that the premier’s business associates could develop the town of Himare where Beleri was elected.

That’s a seaside spot as Albania is growing in tourist interest because of its coastal sites that are largely unspoiled and far cheaper than Greece and other Balkan countries that are being discovered, and have lucrative development opportunities.

Mitsotakis, who said Greece will block Albania’s European Union hopes unless Beleri is released, told him, “I hope that soon you will be out of jail for good, for this painful chapter to finally end for all of us so we can move on and look forward.”

He said that, “We also have every reason to want an Albania which … comes closer to Europe, while strictly adhering to its European commitments. This I think is a common goal that we all want to work towards.”

Beleri said that, “I believe that the rule of law, the right to elect and be elected, are not self-evident in the country in which we live. I want to help with that,” with Albania dealing with a reputation for corruption and political intervention.

Beleri told Mitsotakis during their meeting, according to a transcript released by the Prime Minister’s office that he wants “to help the Greek ethnic minority stay in its ancestral home, but also for this state to come closer and become a member of the European family.”

He was arrested two days before the May 14, 2023 municipal elections in Himare, a predominantly ethnic Greek town, charged with offering about 40,000 Albanian leks (360 euros or $390) to buy eight votes.

He won the election by 19 votes, backed by the ethnic Greek minority party and others opposing Rama’s governing Socialists. But he never took office, being detained until his court conviction in March.

An appeals court upheld the ruling last month, and Albanian authorities stripped Beleri of his post as mayor of Himare, where a new election will be held August 4 and he said it’s being done to give Rama and his friends control of the town for profit.

Albanian courts that he said are also under the thumb of Rama have rejected all his appeals to be released and cleared although Albanian officials claimed that the judiciary that has ruled against him every time is independent.

He came to Athens after being granted a five-day leave by the Albanian authorities to attend the opening session of the new EU assembly in Strasbourg. While out of jail he has to maintain contact with police and go back to serve the rest of his sentence.