Europe calls Serbia, Kosovo to work closer regarding ex-Kosovar PM's arrest

The European Commission appealed on Monday to Serbia and Kosovo to increase their judicial and law enforcement support to speed up the case of Kosovo's ex-prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, currently under arrest in France and awaiting a court's decision regarding his eventual extradition to Belgrade.


During her daily press briefing, Maja Kocijancic, the EC Foreign Affairs spokesperson, called on all parts to maintain a climate conducive to "normalcy and security."

The EC spokesperson reminded both Serbia and Kosovo their "reinforced cooperation" between their law-enforcement and court systems that, due to the circumstances surrounding the Haradinaj case, "must be accelerated."

Kocijancic praised the steps already taken in this process by Serbia and Kosovo favoring direct cooperation, information exchanges and procedural transfers".

She also said this cooperation must be driven by integrating Serbian judicial staff within the Kosovar system throughout this month, along similar lines to the prior integration of Serbian and Kosovar police forces.

"There has been an agreement, currently being implemented and that is the framework this matter must be dealt with," concluded the EC spokesperson, whose organization is facilitating the talks between Pristina and Belgrade in an effort to normalize relations after the historic Serbian province unilaterally declared its independence in 1999.

• In the meantime, the Colmar Appeals Court (northeastern France) continued to mandate the provisional arrest of Haradinaj, who was arrested Wednesday as he arrived on a flight from Pristina to Basel-Mulhouse airport, located on the border where Germany, Switzerland and France converge.

One day later, Serbian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, announced his country would request the extradition of the former Kosovar Prime Minister and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK.)
 
Haradinaj, 48, was Kosovo's PM from Dec. 2004 to Mar. 2005. He is wanted by the Serbian courts since 2004, suspected of committing war crimes against Serbian civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict that pitted the UCK armed group against Serbia.

He stepped down from the PM office to face war crime accusations at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague and was absolved in two instances, in 2008 and 2012.

On both occasions, he was welcomed back in Kosovo as a hero, while his absolution was seen as "unjust" in Serbia, who proceeded to issue an international arrest warrant against him in 2004.
 EFE
9/1/17
-
Related:

• French appeal court: Ex-Kosovo PM, Haradinaj to be kept in custody until extradition request
• Kosovo urges EU to press Serbia to drop arrest warrants for ex-guerrillas

--

• Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic will not travel to Kosovo and Metohija
• Serbian president describes some EU membership conditions as humiliating
• New court to open in The Hague to try Kosovo war crimes

-

• Kosovo Liberation Army harvested Serb organs. (there will be no trial, the lead investigator said)
• Kosovo: des dirigeants de l'UCK jugés pour crimes contre l'humanité (et trafic d'organes)