Following the arrest of the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, by the French border police, ALDE Group in the European Parliament has today expressed concerns about the procedure in this case. Haradinaj was detained last week on an arrest warrant issued by Serbian authorities in 2004. In between, he was tried on war crimes charges and acquitted twice at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, in 2008 and 2012.
ALDE MEP, Hilde Vautmans (Open VLD, Belgium), shadow rapporteur on Kosovo, said French authorities must make sure the Serbian warrant has no political motivation behind it:
“The arrest of Mr. Haradinaj looks like an abuse of the international arrest warrant system for political reasons. France has to realise that it will jeopardize EU-political relations with the Balkan region if it doesn’t release Kosovo’s ex-Prime Minister immediately. He has been acquitted twice already by the ICTY on these war crime charges.”
ALDE MEP, Ivo Vajgl (DeSUS, Slovenia), added:
„As proven on other occasions, the arrest of Mr. Haradinaj was politically and legally questionable and a negative signal for the whole of south-eastern Europe, where the past always seems to overshadow the present and future. Third countries – Slovenia a while ago, France in this case – should refrain from getting involved in political games among Balkan countries. Haradinaj should be released immediately.”
Ramoush Haradinaj is expected today to appear again before judges and could be released on bail, but without the right to leave France, according to his lawyer. Last Thursday, a French court decided to keep him in prison until Serbia’s extradition request has arrived.
