Kosovo prime minister formally hands in resignation letter

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s prime minister has formally handed in his resignation after being summoned for questioning by a Hague-based court investigating crimes against ethnic Serbs during and after the country’s 1998-99 war.

Ramush Haradinaj, 51, said Monday that he had submitted his resignation letter and urged the country’s president to call an early parliamentary election. He added that the outgoing Cabinet would act in a caretaker role.

Haradinaj, a former parliamentary speaker, a president’s adviser and other unnamed former top war commanders have been summoned by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and are expected to be questioned this week.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and a separate Specialist Prosecutor’s Office were established in 2015 based on war crimes allegations against the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army.