Balkans: October 23, 2003

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Former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) wartime chief of staff Agim Ceku (regarded by many locals as a hero in the 1998-99 war against Serb rule) was released, after being arrested the day before by Slovene police at Ljubljana airport as he was returning to Kosovo. Ceku (now the head of the Kosovo Protection Corps, a civilian emergency organization created after the KLA was disbanded) was held for 12 hours before local authorities determined that the Serbian warrant was 'invalid'. Kosovo Albanian leaders reacted furiously to the arrest. - Adam Geibel