Bulgaria releases ex-Kosovo PM Agim Ceku: court

Bulgaria on Thursday released former Kosovo premier Agim Ceku, arrested on a warrant from Serbia, where he is wanted on war crimes charges, an AFP photographer in the court reported.

Ceku walked free after a prolonged hearing into whether or not Sofia should extend his detention. He was initially held in custody only for a period of 72 hours.

The former Kosovo premier was however requested to remain in Bulgaria until July 2, in case the prosecution appealed his release, judge Sonya Kocheva was cited by the national radio as saying.

Ceku told reporters after the hearing that he was happy with the court ruling, while prosecutors hinted they would not appeal.

Ceku was detained on an Interpol arrest warrant at the Gyueshevo border checkpoint near Kyustendil on Tuesday night, while he was entering Bulgaria from Macedonia.

Serbia has since officially requested his extradition, while Kosovo insisted that Ceku be released.

The former premier and one-time top commander of Kosovo's Liberation Army of ethnic Albanian guerillas was brought to the court Thursday heavily guarded and in handcuffs, the AFP photographer said.

Clad in an offical black suit and a tie, he told the court that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at the Hague had already investigated crimes in the region and identified the people responsible for them, adding: "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," Ceku told the court.

Bulgarian media meanwhile reported that his lawyers presented the court with a letter from Kosovo premier Hashim Thaci, 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, or UNMIK.

Bulgaria's former foreign minister Solomon Passy had told the media Wednesday that he had invited Ceku to Sofia.

Serbia's claim to have him extradited was meanwhile backed Thursday by Amnesty International that "called upon the Bulgarian authorities to extradite promptly Agim Ceku to Serbia... to face trial on war crimes charges."

Kosovo's prime minister for the two years leading up to the disputed territory's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in February 2008, Ceku is wanted by Serbia for war crimes allegedly committed during the 1998-1999 war in then Serbian-ruled Kosovo.

His detention in Bulgaria was not the first time an Interpol warrant initiated from Serbia caught up with him. Ceku was expelled from Colombia last month, and arrested in Slovenia and Hungary in 2006, where authorities eventually decided against handing him over to Belgrade.

Ever since declaring independence in 2008, Kosovo has been recognised by 60 countries, including the United States and most of the European Union.

But Serbia and its powerful ally Russia have rejected the move as a breach of international law and said they will never recognise an independent Kosovo.