Custody of Rugova's Son Extended in Kosovo

The custody decision was taken on Wednesday but made public on Thursday after the defence received it in writing. The EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, said: “All of the defendants are charged with the offence of organized crime related to the offences of abuse of official position, trading in influence and fraud”.The prosecution maintains that Rugova, an MP and the son of the country's revered independence leader, illegally helped to procure Schengen-zone visas for Kosovo citizens at the Italian embassy.Bajram Tmava, his defence lawyer, told Balkan Insight he had appealed the decision, saying detention "should have been replaced with a softer measure", such as house arrest.The 33-year-old MP, a lawmaker from the Coalition for a New Kosovo, which is part of the current ruling coalition, was arrested in February.He entered politics ahead of the last parliamentary elections in 2010, when he and some other former members of his father’s party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, left and established the “Dr Ibrahim Rugova List”.Rugova was the first president of Kosovo, serving from 1992 to 2000 and again from 2002 to 2006.He was also the founder and head of the LDK, which has been struggling to survive politically since his death in 2006.