Former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj faces charges of murder, rape and the deportation of Serb civilians from his time as a leader of ethnic Albanian rebels, the UN tribunal said yesterday.

The war crimes indictment against Haradinaj, who resigned on Tuesday to face trial, was kept under wraps until he was taken into custody after flying to The Hague from Kosovo on Wednesday.

Prosecutors have charged Haradinaj, a former regional commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), with 17 counts of crimes against humanity and 20 counts of violations of the laws or customs of war during the 1998-99 separatist war.

The indictment said he mounted a violent campaign to expel ethnic Serbs and Roma from Kosovo in 1998. He also took part in the beatings of detainees, and on at least one occasion gave his tacit approval for detainees to be executed.

Mr Haradinaj, 36, whose surrender was applauded by the United Nations, Nato and the European Union, denies the charges and has called evidence against him an attempt to discredit the KLA by those close to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

The tribunal also made public charges against two aides who surrendered with him: Idriz Balaj, commander of a special KLA unit called the "Black Eagles", and Lahi Brahimaj, a relative of Haradinaj and deputy KLA commander of his Dukagjin region.

Both are charged by prosecutors with 16 counts of crimes against humanity, including detention, deportation, murder and rape, and 19 counts of violations of the laws or customs of war.

The rape charges against all three men relate to an alleged assault of a Roma woman by Balaj.

Mr Haradinaj, considered a hero by many Kosovo Albanians, is the most senior former Kosovo guerilla to be indicted for alleged atrocities in the war against Serb forces.