KYUSTENDIL, Bulgaria — A court released the former prime minister of Kosovo Thursday but requested that he remain available to Bulgarian authorities for up to 40 days as officials consider an extradition request from Serbia to face charges of genocide.
The former prime minister, Agim Ceku, a commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army during the 1998-1999 war with Serbia, was detained Tuesday as he entered Bulgaria from Macedonia on an unofficial trip to visit Bulgarian officials.
“I am pleased by this ruling,” Mr. Ceku said after it was announced. “The indictment issued by Serbia has no basis, is completely illegitimate and contains no facts or evidence. We are now under the jurisdiction of the state institutions of Kosovo.”
Lawyers had presented evidence in Mr. Ceku’s defense, including letters from the former Bulgarian foreign minister, Solomon Passy, who had invited him, and from the United Nations. The lawyers said the letters requested that the indictment of the Serbian court be ignored as illegitimate.
Full Article at The New York Times
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