ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
A court in the Balkan nation of Albania has released the country's former president and prime minister, Sali Berisha. He spent nearly a year under house arrest and denies charges of corruption. And he has accused his political rival, the current prime minister, of political repression. Willem Marx has the story.
WILLEM MARX, BYLINE: A former cardiologist, Sali Berisha was a leading figure in Albania's independence movement during the late 1980s and early '90s before being elected the new state's second president and the country's first noncommunist leader in more than 50 years. He survived an assassination attempt in 1997...
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SALI BERISHA: (Non-English language spoken).
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MARX: ...Prompting loud chants from his loyal supporters. He then served in the country's Parliament, and as head of the Democratic Party, regained a powerful position as prime minister after elections in 2005.
Late last year, he faced charges of corruption linked to a property deal, accusations he denied, and was placed under house arrest. Protests followed for months. And then today, without warning, the country's corruption court gave him his freedom. Another opposition party's leader and former president is also under investigation for corruption. And both men say the country's current long-serving prime minister, Edi Rama, has orchestrated the charges against them as part of a political repression campaign. In light of Berisha's service to the nation, his detention represented a travesty of justice, according to Flamur Noka, the general secretary of Berisha's Democratic Party.
FLAMUR NOKA: Let's not forget one simple fact. Mr. Berisha is one of the founding fathers of Albanian democracy, of the few to rise up for free speech and against political persecution. To be a political prisoner 33 years later is tragic.
MARX: The U.S. and U.K. have in recent years barred Berisha and close family members from entering their countries due to his alleged involvement in corruption. But Noka says the former leader's release today will strengthen his party's chances of success in parliamentary elections expected next spring.
NOKA: This is not only about Berisha and his freedom but the ability of opposition, as a political and social alternative, to function properly.
MARX: Last night, protests against the current government reached a violent peak during clashes with police who used tear gas in the capital.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in non-English language).
MARX: The crowds chanted against what they called the dictatorship and criminality of Rama's administration, demanding a caretaker government take charge for the next six months until those elections.
BEN ANDONI: The goal is clear - to go to the elections without a Rama government. The opposition thinks that he's manipulated everything.
MARX: Ben Andoni is a political analyst in the capital, Tirana, who says Rama's used the power of the Albanian state to his advantage during previous elections and will feel little actual pressure thanks to his persistent popularity with many sections of the country's population.
ANDONI: Rama feels very confident at this moment. And therefore, he spends most of his energy abroad or in Albania with massive campaigns concerning other problems. But some of them are not real problems of Albania.
MARX: Rama is currently pushing for Albania to join the European Union, whose leaders have urged the country's opposition parties to choose political dialogue over violence.
For NPR News, I'm Willem Marx.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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