The Hague, 23 January 2002 (RFE/RL) -- Two prominent Bosnian Serbs appeared at the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague today on charges of ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian civil war in the early 1990s. Radoslav Brdanin and Momir Talic are accused of committing war crimes in the Serb-proclaimed autonomous enclave of Krajina between 1991 and 1995.
Both men face charges amounting to ethnic cleansing directed against Bosnian Moslems and Bosnian Croats around the town of Banja Luka -- Brdanin as head of a civil administration, Talic as a general and corps commander.
They are accused of murdering, torturing, persecuting, and stealing from numerous civilians in a bid to force the creation of a "Greater Serbia."
The start of the proceedings was delayed for two days because some of the defense documents had not been translated into the official court languages -- English, French, and Serbian.
Both men face charges amounting to ethnic cleansing directed against Bosnian Moslems and Bosnian Croats around the town of Banja Luka -- Brdanin as head of a civil administration, Talic as a general and corps commander.
They are accused of murdering, torturing, persecuting, and stealing from numerous civilians in a bid to force the creation of a "Greater Serbia."
The start of the proceedings was delayed for two days because some of the defense documents had not been translated into the official court languages -- English, French, and Serbian.