A panel of three European judges serving in Kosovo rebuffed a US request for the extradition of a Kosovo Albanian man wanted on terrorism charges, the European Union mission said on Friday. Bajram Asllani, 29, was arrested on June 17 by Kosovo and EU police after US prosecutors in North Carolina accused him of providing material support to terrorism suspects and conspiring to kill and hurt people abroad.
Explaining Friday's ruling decision, the EU mission said there were no accords between the United States and Kosovo governing extradition of Kosovo citizens. The judges also found the US request did not "sufficiently demonstrate that there were well-grounded suspicions that Asllani had committed the charged criminal offences", it said.
Asllani was freed shortly after his arrest but had to report to police twice a week pending the extradition ruling. Two years after declaring independence, Kosovo's peace is still maintained by some 10,000 Nato troops and 2,000 police, judges and prosecutors from the EU. The United States is the main supporter of Kosovo's statehood and has 1,480 troops there.
Charges against Asllani included "providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property" abroad, the EU mission said. Asllani denied all charges. He was accused of soliciting money from a group of men in North Carolina who were arrested last year for an alleged plot to attack a US Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, according to US prosecutors.
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