Macedonia: Court Rejects Extradition Of Kosovar War Crimes Suspect To Serbia
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — A court in North Macedonia has rejected a Serbian extradition request for a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army accused of war crimes.
The Basic Criminal Court in Skopje said on August 7 that after reviewing the documentation, it ruled that conditions for Tomor Morina’s extradition had not been met.
Morina will remain in detention pending a decision by the Supreme Court on the case, the court said.
The ethnic Albanian was detained on July 24 at the Blace border crossing between North Macedonia and Kosovo under a Serbian Interpol arrest warrant.
He is suspected of involvement in atrocities against civilians during Serbia’s 1999 crackdown against ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo — then a Serbian province.
Morina denies the charges and is fighting extradition.
Kosovo’s ambassador to North Macedonia has warned that if the man is extradited to Serbia, it would have a negative impact on relation between Pristina and Skopje.
