French police have arrested former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj on a Serbian war crimes warrant, Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry says.
Haradinaj, a former guerrilla commander during Kosovo's 1998-99 war, is accused by Serbia of committing war crimes during the conflict in the former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008.
Kosovo Foreign Ministry said on January 4 in a statement that "he was stopped by French authorities based on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia in 2004, which for us is unacceptable."
The ministry said it was doing everything possible to secure Haradinaj’s release.
The Reuters news agency quoted unnamed French police sources as saying Haradinaj was arrested upon his arrival at Basel-Mulhouse airport in eastern France on a flight from Pristina.
Haradinaj served briefly as prime minister of Kosovo in 2004 and 2005. He was tried and acquitted twice of war crimes at a United Nations court in The Hague.
In June 2015, Haradinaj was arrested in Slovenia on a Serbian warrant but was released two days later under diplomatic pressure.