Albania arrests lawmaker wanted by Belgium over murder

Albanian police on Thursday arrested a lawmaker convicted in Belgium in absentia for a murder carried out in 1999. paving the way for his extradition under an international arrest warrant.

The parliament had previously lifted the immunity of Mark Frroku, a member of a small Christian Democratic party which is in alliance with the ruling Socialists.

According to the Albanian prosecutor the "Belgium authorities issued an international arrest warrant for Mark Frroku, sentenced with three other Albanians for the premeditated murder of a compatriot in 1999 in Brussels."

In January 2010 a Brussels tribunal "sentenced the four in absentia, including Frroku, to 10-years imprisonment each," the prosecutor said in a letter to the parliament demanding that the immunity be lifted.

Prosecutors suspect that the 1999 Brussels murder of Aleksander Kurti is linked to a clash among rival groups involved in human trafficking. Frroku has appealed the Belgium court ruling and the case will be reopened in October.

"I have not been involved in any such incident. I was not in Belgium at the time. These accusations are false," Frroku told the parliament on Thursday.