Two Serbs accused of war crimes went on trial today for their alleged role in the killing of more than 100 ethnic Albanians, a legal monitor of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said.
Mr Andjelko Kolasinac and Mr Cedomir Jovanovic face war crimes charges related to massacres and looting and burning of homes in and around the town of Orahovac during NATO's 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, the indictment said.
During the opening day of the trial in Kosovo, Mr Kolasinac testified, denying the allegations, said Mr David Marshall, who is watching the case for the mission in Kosovo of the OSCE.
An international prosecutor will present the case to an international panel of judges. Witness testimony is expected to make up a substantial part of the trial in the southern Kosovo town of Prizren, which could take months, Mr Marshall said.
Mr Kolasinac, a village leader in Orahovac at the time of the 1999 conflict, and Mr Jovanovic, an alleged member of a Serbian paramilitary group, are part of a group of eight named in the indictment, Mr Marshall said.
The other six escaped from a Kosovo jail last year.