A Kosovar wanted for war crimes may be extradited to Serbia, the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona has ruled.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
The man, a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, was detained last April at the request of Serbia which sent Switzerland a formal extradition request in March.
He is accused of committing war crimes against Serb civilians and Albanians in 1999, in Gnjilane, about 50 kilometres from the Kosovan capital, Pristina.
In a ruling published on Friday, the court said Belgrade’s extradition request fulfilled the necessary legal requirements for the man’s extradition.
The court rejected the contention that the extradition was politically motivated “on the grounds that there is no serious reason to consider that the prosecution by the Serbian authorities is motivated by a particular social group, his race, religion or nationality”.
The man can appeal the ruling to the Federal Court, Switzerland’s highest court.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Border tensions stall Serbia-Kosovo progress
This content was published on
Troops from Nato’s Kosovo force (Kfor) and ethnic Serb civilians were among the injured at a disputed border crossing on Tuesday. Switzerland has a contingent of 220 soldiers serving in Kfor, mainly providing logistical support. François Furer, spokesman for the Swiss Armed Forces International Command (Swissint), confirmed to swissinfo.ch that no Swiss were present during…
This content was published on
Andreas Ernst, a journalist with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, believes a more durable and far-reaching solution is needed than the one for Serbia to remove roadblocks in Kosovo’s Serb-run north . The deal was brokered by Nato on Wednesday in a bid to end over a week of clashes and heightened tension. The reopening…
This content was published on
Del Ponte, who was prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for eight years from 1999 to 2007, is returning to Switzerland after three years as ambassador to Argentina. The prosecutor created an international controversy with the 2008 publication of the book The Hunt: War Criminals and Me in which she described…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.