The UN forces in Kosovo have arrested an Albanian fugitive Baki Sadiki who has been sentenced in absentia in Slovakia to 22 years in jail for drug production. Though the Slovak side has already initiated talks about his extradition, the whole situation might be complicated by the fact that Slovakia has not officially recognised Kosovo yet, the private TV Markíza reported on October 26.
“The national office of Interpol in Slovakia received the information about the detention of the person yesterday after 17:00,” said Slovak Police Corps President Tibor Gašpar, as quoted by TV Markíza.
Sadiki has been arrested within the international Interpol police operation called Infrared. He has been put into extradition custody and is now waiting to be sent back to Slovakia. According to Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák, nothing stands in the way of the extradition of Sadiki back to the country.
“I think that the whole case is under control, and this operation will be resolved successfully within a matter of a few days,” said Lajčák, as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that he has been in touch with his counterpart in Kosovo as well as Kosovo’s prime minister.
Yet, while the Foreign Affairs Ministry says that the extradition process will be short, the problem might be the fact that Slovakia still has not officially accepted Kosovo as an independent state. Moreover, the two countries have no agreement over extraditing detained persons, Markíza added.
Lajčák responded that all formal talks will be held under the auspices of the EULEX EU mission.
“I stressed that we care deeply about this case and that we must do everything in our power to extradite this person to Slovakia as soon as possible,” Lajčák said, as quoted by TASR. “The Kosovan side promised to oblige.”
Source: TASR, TV Markíza
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
