Former KLA member arrested in France

Former KLA member arrested in France

PRIŠTINA -- A former member of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has been arrested in France on an Interpol war crimes warrant issued by Serbia.

The Albanian language media in Priština are reporting that the suspect is Genc Zogaj.

His brother Besart Zogaj told the Kosovapress agency that the family "thought that was over," but that he was placed under arrest "once again on the request of the authorities of Serbia."

"Genc was on trial twice for alleged war crimes and was sentenced to jail both times by the UNMIK administration. After many trials led by foreigners, he was found to be innocent, but the state of Serbia in 2009 issued an international arrest warrant," Besart Zogaj was quoted as saying.

He added that his brother was "deported from Hungary to Serbia where he spent six months in jail and was abused, without any rights, while in the end it turned out he was innocent."

He added that Genc Zogaj now lives in France with his family - "but the authorities there arrested him on Friday, at around 22:30 hours."

"It is expected that he will soon be extradited to Serbia on the war crimes charges Serbia brought against him, because of which he was in jail three times and set free as innocent each time," said Zogaj's brother.

He also "blamed Kosovo's institutions for not showing any interest in the case," as they "did nothing to protect their citizen from the abuse of the Serb state."

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