Serbia on Tuesday began the prosecution of six Serbs for the notorious 1991 Vukovar massacre in a special trial seen as a litmus test of its ability to dispense justice for war crimes during Yugoslavia's break-up.
The six men have been charged with killing at least 192 prisoners of war in Vukovar, Croatia as the town fell to Serb forces early in the 1991 Croatian war of independence.
Deputy prosecutor Dusan Knezevic said the six accused rounded up their victims from the hospital where they had sought shelter from a bombardment, put them on trailers and took them to pits where firing squads shot them seven or eight at a time.
"They killed more than 180 prisoners of war and covered up the pit, where the bodies fell, with a bulldozer. They later killed ten more persons," Knezevic said.
The first of the accused to appear, Miroljub Vujovic, pleaded not guilty and called the charges "a fabrication". His co-accused will plead over the next few days. The Belgrade trial focuses on the alleged trigger men, members of the "Vukovar territorial defence" aged from 32 to 55.
The 1991 massacre went on "from November 20 till early morning November 21" at Ovcara farm near the picturesque Danube town, which was reduced to rubble by weeks of shelling, its swimming pool water turned black with blood.
The wars ignited by the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s fuelled bitter hatreds.
In their immediate aftermath, the United Nations was unwilling to trust former foes Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia with judging men who might be seen as war heroes at home.
Eight years later, the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) appointed by the UN to hear trials on Yugoslav war crimes is increasingly focused on the "big fish" and ready to assist local courts to handle "lower level" cases.
In the last year, Serbia has adopted a war crimes law, created a special prosecution service and court, rounded up the accused and started their trial. What remains to be seen is whether blind justice will be served.