Former KLA member arrested in Italy
Italian police have arrested a former Kosovo Albanian rebel on a warrant from Serbia which wants him to face its war crimes court for killings allegedly committed during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war, police said.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, July 13, 2009
Immigration police picked up Muharem Gashi, 36, on Saturday morning near his home in the Adriatic port of Rimini. He remained jailed there Sunday pending an extradition hearing, Rimini police spokesman Sabato Riccio said.
Gashi had been granted political refugee status in Italy several years ago.
The spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor's office, Bruno Vekaric, said Belgrade wants to extradite Gashi to face charges of allegedly killing two Serbs and torturing three more in the village of Berkovac.
«We expect that he will face our war crimes court,» said Vekaric, adding that the investigation against Gashi and two others has been going on for some time.
The court of appeals in Bologna is handling the extradition request. Riccio said the decision on whether to extradite him will likely take 40 days, and that Gashi would remain imprisoned until a decision is made.
Serbia has issued dozens of warrants against former Kosovo Albanian rebels, including the top commanders who have held senior positions in the post-war Kosovo administration. Former Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku was detained briefly three times on a Serbian warrant but was released each time, most recently last month in Bulgaria.
