Prishtina, 25 August 2023 (MIA) — Kosovo lawyer Besnik Berisa confirmed Friday that the Prishtina Court has released his client Alil Demiri who was sentenced to life in prison in North Macedonia over the murder of five Macedonian civilians at Smilkovci Lake in 2012, MIA's Prishtina correspondent reports.

The prosecutor for the case retracted the request for a detention order, and Demiri was granted freedom, after he was previously arrested on Thursday by the Kosovo police following an international arrest warrant issued by the Ministry of Inferior in North Macedonia, Berisa said in an interview with sinjali.com.

"After the defense presented their evidence and other additional arguments, the Prosecutor's Office reviewed the detention request and the prosecutor who had filed it withdrew the request," Berisa states.

Berisa is convinced that Demiri's arrest was "a flagrant violation of his legal and constitutional rights."

Demiri cannot be extradited to North Macedonia because the arrest warrant was rejected by Kosovo courts in two instances, the portal writes.

"Alil Demiri was falsely detained and imprisoned on an order from Interpol for a matter that has already been investigated by our court... He cannot be extradited to North Macedonia and I am confident that tomorrow he will return to his family and friends," Berisa announced.

According to his lawyer, Demiri is "innocent of the crime conceived and carried out by the Macedonian secret services."

The news portal Sinjali published a photo of Berisa and Demiri in front the Public Prosecutor's Office of Kosovo and the Prishtina Court. ssh/mr