A court in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica on Friday decided not to extradite to the United States a Kosovo Albanian suspected of terrorism, and released him from prison.

The man was arrested Thursday at the request of a US federal attorney, who charged him with support for terrorism.

He "has not been taken into detention, but he has to report twice a week to the police," Kristina Herodes, a spokeswoman for the European Union's law-enforcement mission in Kosovo, told the German Press Agency dpa.

No further details were available.

Upon his release, the man told local reporters that he was ready to prove his innocence. sk/fd/11:48

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic said today that the decision of an EULEX judge to free Bajram Aslani from detention in Kosovo, who is sought by Serbia and the US for planning terrorist attacks, deserves the harshest condemnation.

In a statement to Tanjug, Dacic recalled that the US issued an arrest warrant for Aslani and that it expects his extradition for planning terrorist attacks in the US. He added that Aslani is also suspected of planning terrorist attacks in Kosovo and Jordan and in the Gaza Strip.

This is why the decision of his release is surprising, Dacic noted. That can indicate that double standards are applied in case of members of Albanian radical groups.

He voiced hope that the international mission in Kosovo will take into account the requests of the Serbian and US judiciaries for prosecuting Bajram Aslani as one of the leading extremist Islamic leaders in the province.

Dacic said that the Serbian police have operational data that during last year, Aslani got hold of a considerable amount of plastic explosive in Bosnia-Herzegovina which he transferred to Kosovo-Metohija and that this explosive is intended for terrorist acts in central Serbia.

Also, operational data of the Serbian police indicate that Aslani is a member of Vahebije Islamic movement and that he is in close connection with well-known radical Islamists from Novi Pazar and Sjenica.

On 1 October 2007, following the instruction of the Special Department of the Belgrade District Court, the Serbian police issued an international arrest warrant for Aslani for the crimes of terrorism and illegal possession of arms and explosive materials.

The First Deputy Prime Minister added that the Serbian police found out that Aslani was connected with organisers of Vehabije camp who were discovered in a police action in March 2007.

On that occasion the police found a camp for training of Islamic terrorists near the village of Zabren, in the Sjenica municipality, on the slopes of the Ninaja mountain.

The police found out that Aslani together with Nedzad Bulic and Adis Muric, another group of the accused, was taking part in criminal activities from May to 19 September 2007.

In coordinated activities, Aslani was causing explosions and other acts of violence and thus created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity among the population, Dacic explained.

The Serbian police also have suspicions that Aslani supplied the group arrested on Ninaja mountain near Novi Pazar with arms and ammunition, and to the leaders of the group – Ismail Prentic, who died during the attempt of arrest and Senad Ramovic, who was convicted of 13 years of imprisonment, he offered logistic support after their escape from Novi Pazar.

On 3 July 2009, the Special Department of the Belgrade District Court convicted 12 members of that group to 64 years of prison for planning terrorist attacks and illegal possession of arms.

During 2007, the Special Department of the Belgrade District Court provided the international prosecutor in Kosovo-Metohija with documentation that proves that Aslani was in connection with the prosecuted group from Novi Pazar. On the basis of that documentation, the International court sentenced him to house arrest.

After that, the international prosecutor passed Aslani´s case to the local prosecution which stopped further criminal court action, Dacic recalled.