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French Court Postpones Extradition Hearing Of Former Kosovar Prime Minister

Updated

Former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has described himself as a "political hostage."
Former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has described himself as a "political hostage."

A French court has postponed until April 27 a scheduled hearing regarding Serbia's request to extradite former Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.

The court made the announcement on April 6.

Haradinaj was detained by the French authorities on January 4 and is wanted in Serbia on suspicion of committing war crimes, including kidnappings and torture, when he was a guerrilla fighter during Kosovo's 1998-99 independence war.

After the previous hearing in a French appeals court in Colmar last month, Haradinaj described himself as a "political hostage."

Haradinaj, 48, has been tried twice and acquitted of war crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

He was elected prime minister of Kosovo in 2004 but resigned after 100 days in order to face trial in The Hague.

Predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. It is recognized by 114 countries.

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