Kosovo Detains Terror Suspects Returned from Syria

A bus enters Pristina Airport to pick up Kosovo citizens who were returned from Syria. Photo: BIRN.

The Basic Court in Pristina on Sunday remanded four terrorism suspects in custody for a month after they were returned from Syria by plane along with other citizens of Kosovo who were repatriated from the conflict zone.

Agon Misini, Arijan Kryeziu, Rexhe Tafaj and Visar Qukovci were among 110 Kosovo citizens who were returned from Syria on April 19. The group included 32 women and 74 children, nine of whom were children who lost their parents in the war.

According to police date, around 30 other suspected ISIS fighters from Kosovo, plus 39 women and eight children, remain in the Syrian conflict zone.

One of the suspects, 29-year-old Agon Misini, told the court that he was imprisoned in Syria for two years.

He said that he was kept in jail while being handed over to the authorities before being sent back to Kosovo.

The prosecution's file, seen by BIRN, says that Misini travelled from Kosovo to Syria in 2016, but his role ISIS is not clear.

Kosovo Justice Minister Abelard Tahiri, told media on Saturday that the operation to return the Kosovo citizens, which he described as "quite important and sensitive", was undertaken with US support.

"As part of the global anti-terrorism coalition, the Republic of Kosovo has been extremely successful in preventing its citizens going to and participating in foreign conflicts, while now we are dealing with actions to return those who have gone to the battlefields," Tahiri said.

"We couldn't return all those who are in the conflict zones… but we will not stop working until each Kosovo citizen is back home," he added.

Tahiri also vowed that "anyone who has been part...