Agim Çeku

Agim Çeku ( born October 29, 1960 in Ćuška in Peć, Yugoslavia ) was from March 2006 to January 2008 Prime Minister of Kosovo at that time under UN administration. Previously, he was head of the Kosovo Protection Corps, one initiated by the KFOR National Guard of Kosovo. Formerly, he served as Chief of Staff of the KLA.

Military career

After school Çeku artillery officer was in the Yugoslav People's Army and graduated from the Yugoslav Military Academy in Belgrade.

Time in the Croatian Army

In 1991 he defected and joined in October to the Croatian Army newly formed and began his career there as a colonel. He was promoted to lieutenant general and commander of the 5th Military District (Rijeka ). Çeku is regarded as one of the key planners of the military operation Oluja, when the Croatian army in 1995 the then mainly inhabited by the Krajina Serbs and Serb- occupied Republic of Serbian Krajina reconquered.

Agim Ceku was also heavily involved in the military operation Medak, in which there was considerable fighting with the Canadian army stationed there after the Croatian army had committed massacres against civilians.

During the war he was Croatia, along with other Croatian officers, trained by American military advisers. He received a total of nine awards in Croatia.

Time in the KLA and KPC

In February 1999, he took his leave of the Croatian Army and was shortly thereafter as chief of staff, the top military commander of the KLA.

Since the autumn of 1999, he held the rank of General at the head of the Kosovo Protection Corps ( TMK ). Only Çeku was allowed to hold a military rank within the TMK. The TMK was due to an agreement between KFOR and the KLA. The claim that there was a civil defense corps is refuted by at least the self-understanding of its members. They see themselves not as a catastrophe protection of Kosovo but as the nucleus of a future army of Kosovo. Most freedom fighters of the KLA were integrated into the structures of the TMK. The United Nations fund the TMK for the most part.

Political career

Çeku is a member of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo ( AAK ), one of three parties that are considered political successor organizations of the KLA. On 10 March 2006 he was elected by the parliament of Kosovo Prime Minister; he succeeded Bajram Kosumi. The western powers of Kosovo advocated his election as prime minister because he had proved in his time as commander of the Kosovo Protection Corps as a reliable partner.

After the parliamentary elections of November 2007 Çeku was replaced on January 9, 2008 by Hashim Thaci as prime minister.

Charges of war crimes

The former Serbian Prosecutor's Office of the District Court of Pristina / Pristina (currently in Niš ) throws Çeku crimes against Serbian civilians in Kosovo. It issued on 18 March 2002 a warrant for his arrest, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior passed it on 4 June 2002 at Interpol. According to Interpol Çeku was at no time the subject of an international arrest warrant ( red notice ) have been, but by Serbian authorities on June 4, 2002 on the National Central Bureau ( Interpol) in Belgrade submitted ad dissemination (diffusion Notice ) in an Interpol database been noted as a wanted person.

Serbian authorities had vainly sought an indictment Çeku before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2003.

On 22 October 2003 Çeku was arrested upon arrival in Slovenia at the airport of Ljubljana from the Slovenian border guard and a day later released on the intervention of UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri. On the day of the arrest, several hundred Albanian demonstrators in Pristina demanding the release Ceku.

February 29, 2004 Çeku was arrested at the airport of Budapest by the Hungarian Border Guard and released shortly afterwards again Holkeris intervention, after which the Minister of Justice of Serbia Holkeri abuse and the violation of international treaties accused.

UNMIK considers the Serbian arrest warrant against Çeku as unfounded and a hindrance for a dialogue between Albanians and Serbs. Since Çeku was elected on 10 March 2006 as Prime Minister of Kosovo, he enjoyed during his tenure in the opinion of representatives of international organizations under international law immunity from prosecution.

On 24 June 2009 Agim Ceku was arrested again, this time from the Bulgarian border authorities at the border of Macedonia to Bulgaria due to a relayed by Interpol international arrest warrant Serbian. He had been invited to Bulgaria by former foreign minister and chairman of the Atlantic Club Solomon Passi. After the Kosovo Bulgaria Government had pointed to the diplomatic status Ceku, he was released on the evening of 25 June 2009.

Private

Çeku is married to a Croat, the couple has three children.