Kelmend

BELGRADE - Serbian officials have released a Kosovar Albanian who was arrested last week on suspicion of committing war crimes during the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo.

Sead Spahovic, the lawyer for Hilmi Kelmendi, said on November 3 that his client will "leave jail today" and "is a free man."

Former Kosovo Liberation Army member Hilmi Kelmendi, the second Kosovo Albanian to be detained in Serbia in recent weeks over allegations of wartime crimes, has been released.

Serbian authorities have released Hilmi Kelmendi after detaining him last Friday on a war crimes arrest warrant.

Kelmendi, suspected of committing war crimes in Kosovo, was arrested while entering Serbia from Croatia. Beta is quoting the KTV broadcaster that reported his lawyer Sead Spahovic confirmed his release.

Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it received the news of the arrest of Hilmija Kelmend "with deep concern."

Kelmendi is a Kosovo Albanian who was arrested on October 31 in central Serbia as he was traveling back to Germany, where he was lived for the past 12 years.

The trial of the leader of the Alliance for a Better Future for Bosnia, SBBBiH, Fahrudin Radoncic, his party colleague, Bakir Dautbasic, Dautbasic's partner, Bilsena Sahman, and a former employee of the US embassy in Sarajevo, Zijad Hadzijahic, started on Wednesday.

Fahrudin Radoncic, the leader of the Alliance for a Better Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBBBiH) said on Sunday that he is ready to testify at the trial of the alleged Balkan drug lord Naser Kelmendi which is currently underway in the Kosovo capital Pristina.

Bakir Dautbasic, a politician from the ruling Alliance for the Better Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBBBiH), was confirmed on Thursday as the party's candidate for the position of Minister of Transport and Communications despite having been arrested on Monday.

Witness Sejla Turkovic testified at the court in Pristina on Monday that Radoncic told her that he had the right of approval over Kelmendi's actions.

Radoncic features prominently in the 49-page indictment against Kelmendi, who is charged with being the head of a major trafficking ring ferrying drugs from Afghanistan to western Europe, with the Bosnian capital Sarajevo as the hub.

The trial of Naser Kelmendi started in Prishtina on Friday with EULEX Special Prosecutor Andrew Hughes giving an opening statement in front of the Basic Court in Prishtina.