SLOVENIA SAYS KPC COMMANDER RELEASED AFTER U.N. INTERVENTION

LJUBLJANA, Oct 23 (Hina) - Slovenia's foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday that Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) commander Agim Qeku was released from custody following the intervention of the UN civil administrator of Kosovo, Harri Holkeri. #L# Qeku, who was arrested at Ljubljana's Brnik airport on Wednesday on a warrant issued by the Interpol office in Serbia and Montenegro, was released early on Thursday after Holkeri sent a letter to Slovene foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel. The Slovene foreign ministry did not reveal details of the letter, but unofficial sources said that Holkeri asserted in the letter that Kosovo had been under the jurisdiction of the UN, and not Serbia, since 1999. Serbian justice minister Vladan Batic said on Wednesday that Serbian authorities had issued a warrant for the arrest of Qeku on charges of "genocide and terrorism against the Serbian population in Kosovo". Qeku was released from the Radovljica prison at 0115 hours on Thursday on the basis of an article in the Slovene law on criminal procedure, under which an investigating judge must release a foreigner from custody when the reasons for his detention cease to exist, the foreign ministry said. (hina) vm