Serbian authorities have released Kosovo citizen Hazir Haziri from custody – about four months after arresting him for alleged war crimes – lawyer Arianit Koci announced on Wednesday.
Haziri was arrested on September 8 at the border crossing in Merdare and has been held in detention in Serbia since then.
Haziri's release "confirms that the arrest was unfounded and based on allegations unsupported by facts," said lawyer Koci, who was involved in his case.
Lawyer Koci went to the Kosovo-Serbia border crossing to personally welcome Hazir Hazir after his release.
He stressed that he will continue his commitment to the release of Albanian citizens unjustly held in Serbian prisons.
"I keep my word. I said that I would return Hazir Haziri from Serbian prison. Tonight, Hazir Haziri is in Kosovo. No innocent citizen dares to remain in Serbian prisons," Koci declared.
Haziri, 77, was arrested for alleged war crimes during the last war in Kosovo in 1998-99.
Serbian authorities claimed at the time that "in June 1999, in Podujeva, in collaboration with several members of the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army], he shot and killed a Serbian civilian."
Serbia has repeatedly arrested Kosovo citizens under such allegations, and only in 2025 were several such arrests recorded./Telegrafi.
