Bulgaria releases Kosovo ex-PM.6/26/2009 1:51:01 PM Bulgaria has released Agim Ceku, the former Kosovo prime minister, who was arrested in the country on Tuesday on a warrant from Serbia, where he is wanted on war crimes charges. Ceku walked free on Thursday after a prolonged pro·long tr.v. pro·longed, pro·long·ing, pro·longs 1. To lengthen in duration; protract. 2. To lengthen in extent. hearing into whether or not Sofia should extend his detention, and has been asked to remain in Bulgaria until July 2, in case the prosecution appeals against his release. Ceku said: "I have had an opportunity for the first time to see the charges by Serbia and the Interpol arrest warrant. The charges are really ridiculous. "Serbia has cheated and told lies to Interpol with invented and untrue information." 'Political' decision Slobodan Homen, a Serbian justice Serbian Justice (Serbian: Српска Правда or Srpska Pravda) is a political party in Serbia. At the last legislative elections, 28 December 2003, the party was part of the Independent Serbia alliance, ministry official, said the decision to release Ceku from detention was a "political one". "Once again, politics overcome international law," Homen told the state-run Tanjug news agency. He said that Ceku would be "sooner or later available to Serbia's justice" and that "our ministry is still awaiting official information from our Bulgarian counterparts and an explanation why Ceku has been released". Ceku was detained de·tain tr.v. de·tained, de·tain·ing, de·tains 1. To keep from proceeding; delay or retard. 2. To keep in custody or temporary confinement: on an Interpol arrest warrant at the Gyueshevo border checkpoint  It has been suggested to create a new article named Checkpoint (security) and that this article should be a sub-article to the new article. near Kyustendil on Tuesday night, while he was
entering Bulgaria from Macedonia.
Serbia has since officially requested his extradition extradition (ĕkstrədĭsh`ən), delivery of a person, suspected or convicted of a crime, by the state where he has taken refuge to the state that asserts jurisdiction over him. , while Kosovo insisted that Ceku be released. Belgrade's claim to have Ceku extradited was backed by Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI,) human-rights organization founded in 1961 by Englishman Peter Benenson; it campaigns internationally against the detention of prisoners of conscience, for the fair trial of political prisoners, to abolish the death penalty and torture of , the UK-based human rights organisation, which "called upon the Bulgarian authorities to extradite ex·tra·dite v. ex·tra·dit·ed, ex·tra·dit·ing, ex·tra·dites v.tr. 1. To give up or deliver (a fugitive, for example) to the legal jurisdiction of another government or authority. 2. promptly Agim Ceku to Serbia ... to face trial on war crimes charges". Handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. The former premier and one-time military chief of Kosovo's Liberation Army of ethnic-Albanian fighters had been brought to the court on Thursday, heavily guarded and in handcuffs. Clad in an offical black suit and a tie, he told the court that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the at The Hague had already investigated crimes in the region and identified the people responsible for them. Addressing the court, he said: "No charges were raised against me. I am not a Serbian national and never was. "Serbia cannot request the extradition of foreign nationals [other than] its own." Bulgarian media reported that his lawyers had presented the court with a letter from Hashim Thaci, the Kosovo premier, confirming that Ceku is a member of Kosovo's diplomatic community. They also tabled a written statement from the United Nations, saying that the detained person was under the jurisdiction of the UN's interim administration in Kosovo. Colombia detention Ceku was prime minister of Kosovo The Prime Minister of Kosovo (Albanian: Kryeministri i Kosovës, Serbian: Премијер Косова in the two years leading up to the disputed territory's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in February 2008. He is wanted by Serbia for war crimes allegedly committed in Kosovo during the 1998 to 1999 war with Serbia. Belgrade says Ceku's fighters killed 669 Serbs and 18 non-Albanians during the fighting. It also accuses him of separate charges over his time as a leader in the Croatian army during that former Yugoslav republic's 1991 to 1995 independence war. The Serbian indictments were issued in 2002, leading to Ceku's detention in Colombia earlier this year and in Slovenia and Hungary in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Serbia has rejected Kosovo's declaration as a breach of international law and has said it will never recognise an independent Kosovo. Aljazeera.net 2003 - 2009 Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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