Six men will today face a special court charged with the 1991 massacre of at least 192 prisoners of war in Vukovar, Croatia.
The special court in December indicted eight men "as members of Vukovar territorial defence" for slaughtering prisoners of war at Ovcara farm near the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar. One of the accused died yesterday, weeks after a suicide bid, and another has turned state's witness.
The Croat and other non-Serb victims, nearly all men, were taken from a hospital and executed after Yugoslav troops captured Vukovar following long and fierce fighting during the 1991-95 Croatian war of independence.
It is a landmark trial that will test Serbia's ability to dispense justice for war crimes.
While the ultra-nationalism that drove the 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia was at its height, the UN war crimes tribunal was unwilling to trust former foes Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia with the task of judging alleged war criminals, who might be viewed as avenging heroes among their own people.
The tribunal, in its most recent indictments, has focused on those viewed as the instigators of Balkan genocide and ethnic cleansing, and those at the top of the chain of command.
Local courts in the countries involved in the 1990s wars are now being given responsibility, with The Hague's help, for trying individual alleged killers.
Three ex-Yugoslav army officers, the so-called Vukovar Three, are already awaiting trial at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague for complicity in the same act as those now on trial in Belgrade.