Germany Arrests Macedonia Suspect

Idrizi is expected to show up at the Skopje court where he is charged along with other 22 people charged with the kidnapping of five workers from the local construction firm Mavrovo during the conflict. The workers were beaten, sexually harassed and humiliated, the prosecution determined.

“We got word from Interpol that Idrizi has been arrested. We already started a procedure for his extradition” The Justice Ministry said.

Upon return, Idrizi who was arrested in Leverkusen will immediately go to prison for another unrelated case. The court in the Macedonia town of Tetovo found him guilty for documents forgery.

“Skhodran is innocent. He along with all the other indicted [for the kidnapping and torture] is innocent. Other people were involved in that case”, his brother Vlazrim Idrizi told local A1 TV. He argued that the whole thing was a police set up.

In 2002 the Hague War Crimes Tribunal took over jurisdiction of five cases from Macedonia, all related to the previous year's armed conflict between Macedonia's security forces and Albanian guerilla forces of the now disbanded National Liberation Army, NLA, that lasted six months.

However, the Hague prosecution pressed charges only in the case against the former Macedonian Interior Minister, Ljube Boskoski and one of his senior police officers. While Boskoski was acquitted from all charges, his subordinate Johan Tarculovski got a 12 years jail sentence which he is now appealing.

The other four cases, all involving suspected members of the NLA, were returned to Macedonia’s judiciary.

The start of the case in the local court one and a half year ago, has been postponed several times. At first many of the indicted were unavailable to the court and then they asked for a Albanian translation of the indictment.

The conflict in Macedonia lasted six months and ended with the signing of the Ohrid peace accord. Following the accord, former Albanian guerrilla leaders assumed a political role by forming the now ruling DUI. Some of them have also joined the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA.

Albanian politicians and some experts have warned that with the reopening of these cases Macedonia risks reviving the inter-ethnic tensions from the past.