TIRANA, May  23 /ATA/- Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka, in the meeting held the previous day in Brussels with the Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, has emphasized that the issue  about Fredi Beleri’s arrest and imprisonment belongs to justice.

In a media statement regarding the informal meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the European Union member states, as well as the Foreign Ministers of the Western Balkans, within the Council of Foreign Affairs of the European Union, Xhaçka disclosed details regarding the conversation with her Greek counterpart.

“I congratulated him on the victory of his party in yesterday’s elections and expressed our sincere wish that despite the different views on the Beleri issue, we will maintain our friendly cooperation, for which we have already opened a new page. Colleague Dendias presented his position and I made it very clear that this is neither an issue related to politics nor to human rights,” the Albanian chief diplomat said.

She underlined that this is all about respecting the rule of law for every Albanian citizen.

The minister added that “it is a matter of combating the phenomenon of vote buying, in line with one of the main recommendations of the OSCE-ODIHR. Just like Albania, even Greece, in accordance with the law, made arrests precisely on the charges of vote buying.”

According to her, this is an issue that falls within the scope of judiciary and in turn there is no room for political sway from inside and outside Albania.

“For the independence of the judiciary, we have invested in a serious fashion, just like the European Union and its member countries have also done,” she said.

/sm/