Ethnic Greek politician returns to prison in Albania after attending European Parliament opening

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — A member of Albania’s ethnic Greek minority returned to prison after a five-day reprieve to attend the opening session of the European Parliament where he was elected to represent Greece’s ruling party. Fredis Beleris, who holds dual Greek-Albanian citizenship, is serving a two-year prison sentence for vote-buying in municipal elections last year in Albania — a candidate to join the European Union. He denies the charges, and Greece has described the case against him as being politically motivated. Beleris got a place on Greece’s governing New Democracy party ticket in last month’s European elections. He said Saturday he was not sorry to turn back to the prison cell.