Ex-Kosovo premier, wanted by Serbia, faces French court

FILE - In this file photo dated Tuesday, April 22, 2008, Kosovo's former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj gestures during an interview with The Associated Press in Kosovo's capital Pristina. Kosovo's foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday Jan. 4, 2017, that French police have detained Haradinaj based on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu, FILE) (The Associated Press)

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Former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, right, is rushed by police officers inside the Colmar courthouse, eastern France, Thursday Jan.5, 2017. Haradinaj is facing possible extradition to Serbia to face war crimes charges after being arrested at a French airport. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias) (The Associated Press)

PARIS – A former Kosovo prime minister is facing possible extradition to Serbia to face war crimes charges after being arrested at a French airport.

Ramush Haradinaj is scheduled to appear Thursday in a court in Colmar in eastern France. The court will decide whether to keep him in custody during extradition proceedings or release him under judicial supervision, according to court official Marie-Helene Calvano.

Calvano said that at an unspecified later date, the court would decide on whether to approve extradition.

Haradinaj, a former guerrilla fighter in Kosovo's war for independence from Serbia, was detained Wednesday at the Basel airport on the border with Switzerland and Germany on a Serbian warrant.

Kosovo's government called the charges "illegal, unfair and tendentious." Haradinaj was cleared of war crimes charges in a U.N. tribunal.