Seven former Bosnian Serb military officials went on trial on Friday at The Hague War Crime Tribunal on genocide charges related to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslims, AFP reported.
Five of the seven men - Vinko Pandurevic, Ljubisa Beara, Vujadin Popovic, Drago Nikolic and Ljubomir Borovcanin- have already appeared individually before the court but their indictments on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war were combined last year in a single indictment.
The prosecution says that some of the accused were involved in the "systematic" operation to kill thousands of Bosnian Muslims and then conceal them in mass graves.
Two other suspects, Radivoje Miletic and Milan Gvero, are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors say both men were responsible for blocking aid to Srebrenica.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, the two men accused of masterminding the Srebrenica massacre - the worst mass killing in Europe since World War Two - remain at large.
About 8,106 Bosnian Muslims were murdered in 1995 after Bosnian Serb forces seized Srebrenica, a UN-protected enclave.
The Srebrenica case is the largest trial ever staged at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Although the accused men have entered their pleas, opening statements in the trial are not due until after the tribunal's summer recess.
The trial was adjourned until opening statements on 21 August.
AlJazeera
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