A Croatian-born woman, Nada Sakic, who was extradited from Argentina to face a war crimes charge dating from the Second World War, has appeared in court in the Croatian capital, Zagreb.

Mrs Sakic, who is seventy-two and suffering from Parkinson's disease, refused to plead but denied having tortured, terrorised and ill-treated civilians when she was a guard in the women's block of the Jasenovac concentration camp in the 1940s.

Her husband, Dinko Sakic, who was the camp commander, was extradited from Argentina in June and is also being prosecuted for war crimes.

Tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies died in concentration camps under the fascist wartime regime in Croatia.