Kosovo town mayor, convicted of war crimes, in custody again

Kosovo town mayor, convicted of war crimes, in custody again

The police of the EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, "has been controlling his movements for a few months and yesterday arrested him in Pristina, outside the hospital," the Albanian language daily Koha Ditore is reporting, adding that the police officers guarding Lushtaku hospital room "claim to have seen nothing."

"Around 14:00 hours the guards informed the service that they could not find Lushtaku. The clerks contacted EULEX who said they had him under arrest," a source told the paper.

On the prosecution's request, Lushtaku was taken to the Basic Court in Kosovska Mitrovica, which decided to transfer him to a high security prison in the village Grdovce, Podujevo municipality, an EULEX spokesperson confirmed for the daily.

Koha Ditore reported in June that Lushtaku was allowed to leave prison "in order to to watch the final game of the football Cup of Kosovo."

The prison service said at the time he was released with the approval of an EULEX judge in order to undergo medical checks.

A little over a year ago, at the start of the Drenica Group trial, Lushtaku also mysteriously "disappeared" for a few days during a medical examination in Pristina's Clinical Center, and did not show up for the first day of the trial.