JURIST - Paper Chase: Major war crimes trial opens in Serbia

The first major war crimes trial of Serbs in Serbia opens Tuesday at a special high-security court in Belgrade. Six former Serbian paramilitary officers are charged with the 1991 killing of more than 200 civilians at a pig farm in the Croatian town of Vukovar. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, a seventh accused died yesterday of injuries sustained in a suicde attempt in January. The trial is seen as a test case for post-Milosevic Serbian justice, and is especially important for critics of the Hague international war crimes tribunal, like current Serbian President Vojislav Kostunica, who want to have Serbs tried for war crimes at home rather than abroad. BBC News has more.