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