Croatia reopens war crimes trial

Missing Serbs' relatives protested outside Croatia's embassy

A court in the Croatian city of Split has begun a retrial of eight former military policemen charged with torturing and killing Serb prisoners.

The Croatian Supreme Court in Zagreb ordered the retrial after upholding a prosecution appeal, ruling that the original trial in 2002 had been flawed.

Only four of the defendants were in court on Monday. The other four remain at large.

The crimes took place at Split's Lora prison in 1992, during the Balkan wars.

The eight defendants are accused of random arrests and the killing and beating of prisoners at the Lora prison. The four who appeared in court pleaded innocent.

At the time, Croatia was fighting Croatian Serbs opposed to its independence.

Correspondents say the trial is a test for the Croatian judiciary as the country lobbies to start membership talks with the European Union.