In France, the Court of Appeal in Colmar has started the process to determine whether former Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj should be extradited to Serbia on the charge of war crimes committed during the Kosovo Liberation War of 1998–99.
Haradinaj was arrested on Wednesday at the Basel-Mulhouse airport based on a Serbian arrest warrant from 2004. The defense lawyers of Haradinaj stated that the chance of Haradinaj being extradited to Serbia are zero.
Meanwhile, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić stated that he expects the French court to extradite Haradinaj to Serbia: “For me it would be illogical if France, as a state obeying the rule of law, would not act in accordance with justice.”
In 2008, Haradinaj had been declared innocent of war crimes against the Serbian population by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Political leaders from Albania and Kosovo declared the arrest unacceptable.
