Kosovo parliament demands release of ex-premier

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - The Kosovo parliament on Thursday demanded the suspension of a dialogue process with Serbia until the release of its former prime minister, who was detained in France.

Ramush Haradinaj is wanted in Serbia to face war crimes charges stemming from his time as a Kosovo Liberation Army commander in the 1990s.

Haradinaj was arrested at Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport in eastern France on Jan. 4 and later freed pending court proceedings to send him to Serbia.

The resolution also demanded the cancelation of Serbian charges and of the arrest warrant issued by Interpol.

Haradinaj was Kosovo’s premier from December 2004 to March 2005.

He stepped down to face war crimes charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He was twice acquitted.

In a statement, the Kosovo government said: “Serbia, which demands Haradinaj's extradition, abuses justice through vicious ways to harm the image of Kosovo and its people.”

The former Serbian province of nearly 1.8 million people is recognized by over 100 countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Turkey.

Russia and China are among the other countries which have not yet recognized Kosovo’s independence.