Jailed rector released in Macedonia

Fadilj Sulejmani, rector of the illegal Albanian-language University of Tevoto, has been released from prison in Macedonia after payment of bail of more than Pounds 45,454.

He had been in custody for more than three months after calling on bystanders to mount a passive blocade to prevent Macedonian police entering the university premises on the official opening of its first academic year.

He was subsequently sentenced to two-and-a-half years' imprisonment under a law dating back to the old Communist Yugoslavia.

Following his release, Dr Sulejmani said that he intended to "carry out to the very end" the work of the university. He said the need for the university to provide Albanian-taught higher education for Macedonia's Albanian minority was a necessity and had the full support of the ethnic Albanian community. The university had no political goals, he said. "But we will not allow others to trample on us, or step on us with violence and force."