The court has been deciding since Wednesday about what to do with the former Kosovo PM and Kosovo Liberation Army commander, and present MP in the Kosovo parliament. The police detained Haradinaj at the Ljubljana Airport because of an arrest warrant issued by Serbia.

The foreign ministry received a verbal note today from Kosovo, which expressed its disappointment over the incident. Slovenia was informed that the Kosovo ex-PM was returning through Slovenia from a diplomatic mission abroad. The note further demanded that Slovenia ensure free passage for Haradinaj. The Slovenian foreign ministry later asked the court to give back Haradinaj his passport and allow him to continue his journey.

Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said yesterday that he expected this unpleasant incident, which has unexpectedly strained the country's relations with Kosovo, to be resolved quickly. In any case, Justice Minister Goran Klemenčič stated that he would not allow the extradition of Haradinaj to Serbia, even if the court decided to extradite him, as Serbia based its warrant on crimes for which Haradinaj has already been cleared by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

It is still not clear however, why the arrest warrant, on the basis of which Haradinaj was apprehended, was still valid in Slovenia and not elsewhere. The story drew much attention in Kosovo. A group of football fans attacked the headquarters of Slovenian companies Nova Ljubljanska Banka and Ipko in Prishtina with football flares.

Blaž Ermenc, Radio Slovenija;
translated by K. J.