French appeals court authorises extradition of ex-Kosovo PM Haradinaj

A French appeals court Thursday turned down a Serbian request for the extradition of former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, who was a guerrilla commander during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

France : l'ex-Premier ministre kosovar Ramush Haradinaj remis en liberté

L'ex-chef rebelle kosovar Ramush Haradinaj a été libéré, jeudi, et placé sous contrôle judiciaire à Strasbourg. Il avait été arrêté à l'aéroport de Bâle-Mulhouse sur demande de la Serbie, qui le soupçonne de crimes de guerre.

Ex-Kosovo PM acquitted of war crimes, Belgrade thunders

The Hague tribunal has cleared former Kosovo’s PM Ramush Haradinaj of war crimes during the military conflict in Serbia in late 1990s. Serbian president says court’s decision annuls efforts to normalize ties between Belgrade and Pristina.
­The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in Hague has ruled that Kosovo ex-PM Ramush Haradinaj, also a former commander of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and two of his subordinates are not guilty of any crimes during the 1998-1999 war.
The three men were accused of torture and killing of ethnic Serbs, Roma and those Albanians who collaborated with Serbs while KLA was establishing control of the western Kosovo.

U.N. Court Frees Former Leader of Kosovo

PARIS — A United Nations war crimes tribunal on Thursday acquitted the former prime minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, for the second time of torturing and killing Serb civilians while he was a commander of the NATO-backed Kosovo Liberation Army during its fight for independence in 1999. 

Two of his comrades, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj, were also acquitted, although Mr. Brahimaj has already served a six-year sentence for torture handed down in an earlier trial. The judges ordered the three men released immediately.