Bulgaria frees former Kosovo PM

Kosovo says Serbia has no right to seek Mr Ceku's extradition

A Bulgarian court has released a former prime minister of Kosovo, Agim Ceku, who was detained on a Serbian arrest warrant two days ago.

Mr Ceku is wanted in Serbia on war crimes charges relating to his command of Kosovo Albanian guerrillas during the 1998-1999 war against Serb forces.

He has been asked to stay in Bulgaria pending a possible appeal. Serbia has urged Bulgaria to extradite him.

He was detained on Tuesday at Kyustendil, near the Macedonian border.

Serbia's Justice Minister Snezana Malovic condemned the Bulgarian decision, saying that "this time again, when speaking of Ceku, politics won over justice".

The Serbian indictment accuses him of command responsibility for the murder of more than 600 Serbs.

Mr Ceku dismissed Serbia's arrest warrant as unjustified and said Belgrade had no right to seek his extradition.

Last month Mr Ceku was expelled from Colombia after Serbia urged his arrest, but he later transited France en route to the Balkans.

He had previously been detained briefly in 2006 in Slovenia and Hungary.

Speaking on Thursday, Mr Ceku said international experts had examined his case and "no charges were raised against me".

He was formerly commander of the ethnic-Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

Kosovo declared independence in February 2008. Ethnic Albanians form the overwhelming majority of the population.

The US and more than 50 other countries have recognised its independence, but more than 100 have not, including Serbia and Russia.