Kosovo Parliament Demands the Immediate Release of Former PM Ramush Haradinaj

Ramush Haradinaj AAK Prishtina Kosovo
Ramush Haradinaj, pictured here in Pristina in December 2012. The former Kosovo prime minister and KLA commander was arrested in France on 4 January over a warrant issued by Serbia for alleged crimes during the Kosovo war in 1999 (Reuters)

Prishtina, Kosovo | Tirana Echo – The Parliament of Kosovo has today voted on a Resolution putting on hold the dialogue with Serbia and demanding the immediate and unconditional release of former PM Haradinaj and call on EU member states to put on pressure on Serbia to cancel its arrest warrants on the former KLA commander.

Kosovo’s assembly voted in favor of the AAK sponsored resolution by 78 votes against 1 declaring the immediate release of Mr. Haradinaj as a ‘primary state obligation’.

The dialogue for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia should be put on hold until the release of former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj. The Government of Kosovo should demand from the EU to force Serbia to cancel all its accusations and arrest-warrants issued to Interpol on citizens of the Republic of Kosovo” – noted the parliamentary motion approved this morning.

The resolution was later praised and supported by the Parliament of Albania which has declared its previous intentions to lobby on behalf of Mr. Haradinaj.

“I would like to praise on behalf of the Albanian Parliament the resolution passed by Kosovo’s Assembly which demands the unconditional release of Mr. Haradinaj” – declared Albanian Speaker Ilir Meta today in plenary session in Tirana.

Haradinaj was held at a French airport after he flew in from Kosovo in January raising tensions between Belgrade and Pristina and putting pressure on Kosovo’s authorities. The arrest came as a result of an international arrest warrant issued to Interpol by Serbia’s government on accusations of war crimes.

Last week, the appeals court in the French town of Colmar decided to ‘surprisingly’ postpone the hearing on the extradition of Ramush Haradinaj to April 6.

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