Three trials start in the Hague

Three new trials have got underway at the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague.

It is the first time three cases have opened at the same time, and follows the appointment of new judges.

All cases are linked with the war in Bosnia.

The accused in the first case are two ethnic Croats - Mladen Naletilic and Vinko Martinovic - charged with the murder and torture of Bosnian Muslims in Mostar in 1993 and 1994.

In the two other cases five ethnic Serbs - Mitar Vasiljevic; and a separate case, Milan Simic, Blagoje Simic, Miroslav Tadic and Simo Zaric - face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to killings in eastern Bosnia and a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the north of the country.

All have pleaded not guilty.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service