Court releases 'wrong' suspect

Court releases 'wrong' suspect

Agim Murtezi was accused of being a KLA member

A judge at the war crimes tribunal at The Hague has released a Kosovo Albanian man after the prosecution admitted he was not the suspect charged last week.

Agim Murtezi had been accused of war crimes, including the torture and murder of Serb and Albanian prisoners in the late 1990s.

But Judge Liu Daqun ordered his release on Friday after the prosecution said doubts existed "over the true identity of the prisoner" since his arrest 10 days ago.

Mr Murtezi had been arrested with Haradin Balaj and Isak Musliu - former members of the disbanded guerrilla group the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

They were the first Albanians to be charged by The Hague tribunal.

Mr Murtezi initially pleaded not guilty to the seven charges against him.

Wrong nickname

He told the judge that even though he shared his name with the person charged in the indictment, their nicknames were different - he had been known as Gimi whilst the man they were after was nicknamed Murrizi.

His lawyer, Stephane Bourgon, later issued a statement claiming he was not the person referred to on the indictment.

Mr Bourgon also read a statement by one of the other defendants, Haradin Balaj, that he had never seen Murtezi before they were arrested and brought to The Hague.

On Friday, Judge Daqun ordered Mr Murtezi's immediate release from the UN detention unit in The Hague.

"I apologise to you," he told Mr Murtezi. "After this hearing you are free.

"I wish you a pleasant journey and reunion with your family."

Fourth man

But the judge declined a request by the defence attorney to declare that Mr Murtezi was no longer a suspect and could not be arrested again.

Prosecutor Andrew Cayley suggested that the man with the same name who was sought by the tribunal may be dead.

The prosecution admitted that the issue of the nickname was crucial since most victims did not know the real name of the man who tortured them, only his nickname.

A fourth man, Fatmir Limaj, who was arrested in Slovenia, is being held there, waiting to be transferred to The Hague.

The men are accused of routinely beating and torturing 35 Serbian or Albanian inmates at the KLA's Lapusnik Prison in 1998.