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Tue, Feb 09 2010
Bulgarian court releases Ceku from custody
Agim Ceku.
A court in Kyustendil, south-western Bulgaria, released from custody former Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku after a hearing on June 25 2009 into whether Bulgaria should permit his extradition to Serbia.
On June 24, Serbia, citing a 1960 bilateral agreement, filed a formal request to Bulgaria for the extradition of Ceku, who was arrested at the Macedonian – Bulgarian border because of an Interpol warrant issued at the request of Belgrade that wants him on war crimes charges.
In the hours after Ceku’s arrest on June 24 2009, Belgrade summoned Bulgarian ambassador Georgi Dimitrov and informed him of the extradition request.
Ceku was being held under 72-hour arrest by Bulgaria while the matter was referred to the prosecuting magistracy and a court for a decision on whether to proceed with extradition. The decision by the Kyustendil court is subject to appeal in the Appellate Court in Sofia. Pending completion of the legal process, Ceku must remain available to Bulgarian authorities.
Serbian media said on June 25 that the country’s justice ministry had filed a formal extradition application to Bulgaria.
Serbia’s B92 quoted Serbian justice minister Snezana Malovic as saying that she expected a positive reply soon from Bulgaria to the extradition application.
The Serbian justice ministry wants Ceku to stand trial for command responsibility for genocide and the murders of 669 Serbs and 18 other non-Albanians in Kosovo in 1999, Malovic said.
Kosovo government spokesperson Memli Krasniqi said that Pristina authorities were in direct contact with the Bulgarian Government and expected Ceku’s release soon, Serbian news agency Tanjug said. Krasniqi said that the indictments against Ceku were politically-based.
"We are authorised to submit a request for detention of up to 40 days on the basis of the Serbian authorities’ intention to ask for Ceku’s extradition. However, it is the court that will decide whether he will be detained up to 40 days, or a lighter decision," the head of District Prosecutor’s Office in the southwestern municipality of Kyustendil, Kamen Peshev, told Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on the morning of June 25.
Peshev said that Serbia’s documents requesting extradition should be received through diplomatic and judicial channels and then the prosecutor’s office and court would decide whether the requirements of the European Convention on Extradition, Extradition Act and European Arrest Warrant had been made. The law sets a 40-day deadline for this process to be completed.
Asked by BNT to comment on Serbian media reports that Ceku would not be handed to Serbia because of political pressure, Peshev said that the law would be enforced as it stands.
While Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry said that Ceku’s arrest on the basis of the Interpol "red warrant" had been lawful, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ivailo Kalfin was quoted by mass-circulation daily Trud as saying that Ceku had been coming to Bulgaria on an official invitation from Solomon Passi, head of Parliament’s foreign policy committee.
Passi had meetings scheduled at the Foreign Ministry, Kalfin was quoted as saying. On June 25, reacting to Ceku's arrest, Passi urged that he be released.
Serbia’s Danas said on June 25 that officials of the United States, the United Kingdom and France were pressing Bulgaria to release Ceku.
Danas said that it was noteworthy that Ceku had crossed Macedonia’s borders without being arrested by the Macedonian police.
The warrant has been put into effect previously. Ceku was arrested in October at Ljubljana Airport and in February 2004 at Budapest Airport. He was released on both occasions. In May 2009, the warrant led to Ceku being deported from Colombia.
Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, does not regard Serbia as having jurisdiction over Kosovo citizens.
On June 24, Serbia, citing a 1960 bilateral agreement, filed a formal request to Bulgaria for the extradition of Ceku, who was arrested at the Macedonian – Bulgarian border because of an Interpol warrant issued at the request of Belgrade that wants him on war crimes charges.
In the hours after Ceku’s arrest on June 24 2009, Belgrade summoned Bulgarian ambassador Georgi Dimitrov and informed him of the extradition request.
Ceku was being held under 72-hour arrest by Bulgaria while the matter was referred to the prosecuting magistracy and a court for a decision on whether to proceed with extradition. The decision by the Kyustendil court is subject to appeal in the Appellate Court in Sofia. Pending completion of the legal process, Ceku must remain available to Bulgarian authorities.
Serbian media said on June 25 that the country’s justice ministry had filed a formal extradition application to Bulgaria.
Serbia’s B92 quoted Serbian justice minister Snezana Malovic as saying that she expected a positive reply soon from Bulgaria to the extradition application.
The Serbian justice ministry wants Ceku to stand trial for command responsibility for genocide and the murders of 669 Serbs and 18 other non-Albanians in Kosovo in 1999, Malovic said.
Kosovo government spokesperson Memli Krasniqi said that Pristina authorities were in direct contact with the Bulgarian Government and expected Ceku’s release soon, Serbian news agency Tanjug said. Krasniqi said that the indictments against Ceku were politically-based.
"We are authorised to submit a request for detention of up to 40 days on the basis of the Serbian authorities’ intention to ask for Ceku’s extradition. However, it is the court that will decide whether he will be detained up to 40 days, or a lighter decision," the head of District Prosecutor’s Office in the southwestern municipality of Kyustendil, Kamen Peshev, told Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on the morning of June 25.
Peshev said that Serbia’s documents requesting extradition should be received through diplomatic and judicial channels and then the prosecutor’s office and court would decide whether the requirements of the European Convention on Extradition, Extradition Act and European Arrest Warrant had been made. The law sets a 40-day deadline for this process to be completed.
Asked by BNT to comment on Serbian media reports that Ceku would not be handed to Serbia because of political pressure, Peshev said that the law would be enforced as it stands.
While Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry said that Ceku’s arrest on the basis of the Interpol "red warrant" had been lawful, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ivailo Kalfin was quoted by mass-circulation daily Trud as saying that Ceku had been coming to Bulgaria on an official invitation from Solomon Passi, head of Parliament’s foreign policy committee.
Passi had meetings scheduled at the Foreign Ministry, Kalfin was quoted as saying. On June 25, reacting to Ceku's arrest, Passi urged that he be released.
Serbia’s Danas said on June 25 that officials of the United States, the United Kingdom and France were pressing Bulgaria to release Ceku.
Danas said that it was noteworthy that Ceku had crossed Macedonia’s borders without being arrested by the Macedonian police.
The warrant has been put into effect previously. Ceku was arrested in October at Ljubljana Airport and in February 2004 at Budapest Airport. He was released on both occasions. In May 2009, the warrant led to Ceku being deported from Colombia.
Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, does not regard Serbia as having jurisdiction over Kosovo citizens.
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Ceku back in Kosovo
Former Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku, released by Bulgaria after his arrest on an Interpol warrant for war crimes, returned to Kosovo on June 30 2009.
Bulgaria arrests former Kosovo prime minister Ceku on Interpol warrant
Held on a warrant issued at the request of Belgrade for a war crimes conviction handed down by a Serbian court, Ceku has insisted such arrests – this is his fourth – are invalid.
UN Security Council debates Kosovo
Representatives of Belgrade and Pristina tussle over UNMIK; UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon reports situation in Kosovo is ‘relatively peaceful’.
INSIGHT: The Kosovo formula?
Events in the unfolding saga of the future of Kosovo seem at once inevitable and unpredictable. Ever since United Nations special envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari released his report earlier this year effectively recommending independence for the territory, and ever since UN and European Union diplomats engaged with Belgrade and Moscow in seeking a compromise that would make effective
Kosovo, Montenegro, and then what next?
It may be hard to notice, but it is there: the anxiety that the future of Kosovo and Montenegro, two slabs of land on their way to a possible chip-off from Serbia, might affect other countries and open a Pandora's box of separatism, as Ukrainian prime minister Boris Tarasyuk put it. Hungarians in Vojvodina, Moldova's Transdniestria, Caucasus republics, European Muslims, Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, why not,
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This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained не е по темата на статията
Mr Ceku is not a war criminal
Mr ceku faiting for peace for kosovo
It is not important if he gets released or not. What is important is that him getting arrested everywhere he goes makes headlines in international press. His crimes are being talked about all over the world and this cannot be OK with his masters and "Kosova" governemnt. He is attracting negative press and gets thrown out of every country he goes to.
Interpol warrants are not issued on a whim. There has to be substance to it before you get it.
So, basically Kosovo is going to be his prison. He cannot risk getting arrested, even if he is released, time and time again.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
lets never forget china india brazil and russia combined own 80% usa debt and close to that of eu (debt=valuation of currency) the kitties may be playing now but look out when the lions come out !!
prepare the collapse of the nato and the world war two. The evidence is that the law is ruled by the stronger.Actually stronger are china and russia. Join army.
Ethnic cleansing is rewarded, yet again. Bulgaria/Macedonia, why do you backstab your brothers all the time? What on earth has your EU masters rewarded you with? Macedonia is next on the list for the KLA and the Albanian's mafia's plans for Greater Albania.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
serbian biggots.. they are nothing compared to our heros the untouchables the Albanians..
this hero humilated serbians in operation storm in the liberation of croatia, and show middle finger to serbia
It really doesn't matter if the Bulgarians bow under preassure, he will be arrested again and again in different countries. Sometime somewere he will face justice, maybe even in Kosovo the authorities will be tired of him and put him to jail for corruption or something
Serbs,
Stop making fabricated story. You have no jurisdiction over Kosovo. You want indict Ceku send the papers to Hague or to the the Republic of Kosovo Authorities. They will review his case, otherwise, you cannot issue illegal Interpol. He's now with diplomatic immunity, and you wont be able to play this game anymore.
"Well, there is evidence Ceku is a war criminal and he needs to stand up to justice otherwise there will never be peace in the Balkans."
So, send this evidence to the Hague. They never saw any reason to indict him.
Well done Bulgaria for leting Mr Ceku go free , because we all know this is pollitically motived by Serbia. Again well done Bulgaria.
serbia needs to make tomislav nikolic president as soon as possible . how much clearer can it be that eu only wants to humiliate and pee all over serbia. they have their "worker bee" counties and they dont want an equal partner country...20 yrs ago we belonged in eu ...today not so much sorry
As far as I remember some Bulgarians working for UN were killed in 1999 by KLA fighters after war has finished?
The strong arm of US will reach any corner and prevent this murderer from facing justice.
I can only hope that he will get justice in one place the mighty US has no power.
The same place the mighty US will face the same justice.
I don't think your government has the guts to stand up to US pressure. Serbian people were brutally murdered by this thug. Serbs have payed plenty for their war crimes; no Serb has been beyond punishment as we've already seen. For instance, Milosevic died in prison. However, according to Kosovo's Albanians, none of their own is a war criminal; thye are all heroes. Well, there is evidence Ceku is a war criminal and he needs to stand up to justice otherwise there will never be peace in the Balkans.