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Protesters In Kosovo Demand France Release Former Prime Minister Haradinaj


Thousands of people took to the streets of Pristina calling on France to let Ramush Haradinaj go.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Pristina calling on France to let Ramush Haradinaj go.

Thousands of people gathered in Pristina on January 21 in a demonstration calling for France to release Kosovo's former prime minister -- who was being held there on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia.

Former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, a Kosovo Albanian wartime guerrilla commander, was arrested in Paris on January 4 under the international warrant.

Belgrade is asking for Haradinaj's extradition for trial on allegations of atrocities committed against civilians in Kosovo during its 1998-1999 war.

Haradinaj has been released on bail by a French court pending a ruling on Belgrade's extradition request but he must remain in France to await the court ruling.

He had been arrested on a Serbian warrant in 2015 in Slovenia for alleged war crimes but was released a day later.

Haradinaj has been acquitted of war crimes twice by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague.

He was elected Kosovo's prime minister in 2004 but resigned after 100 days in power to surrender to the United Nations tribunal.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

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