Ex-Bosnia army boss goes on trial

Mr Delic is accused of failing to stop abuses by foreign fighters

The former head of the Bosnian Muslim army, Rasim Delic, has gone on trial in The Hague on charges of war crimes.

Mr Delic denies charges relating to crimes allegedly carried out by foreign fighters, or "mujahideen", under his command during the 1992-1995 war.

The alleged crimes include the murder and torture of Bosnian Serbs and Croats and the rape of female prisoners.

Mr Delic is one of two senior Bosnian Muslim leaders to be tried at the UN's war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

His predecessor as chief of the command staff of the Bosnian Muslim army, Sefer Halilovic, was acquitted at the end of his trial in 2005.

Transfer appeal

The war in Bosnia attracted hundreds of volunteer Arab fighters, including veterans of the conflict in Afghanistan.

The fighters were assigned to the Bosnian army's El Mujahed unit, which rapidly acquired a reputation for battlefield brutality.

Specific abuses listed in the indictment against Mr Delic include the killing of 24 Bosnian Croat prisoners near the village of Maline in 1993.

The indictment also alleges that the unit beheaded a Serb soldier in 1995, then forced his captured comrades to kiss the severed head.

Prosecutors also accuse the mujahideen of the abuse of detainees at a prison camp in the town of Kamenica.

Mr Delic surrendered to the tribunal in 2005.

He denies he was to blame for the alleged crimes, insisting there were several levels in the chain-of-command separating him from the foreign fighters.

Bosnian Muslims - also known as Bosniaks - were initially allied with the Croats against Bosnian Serb forces, but their alliance soon disintegrated as they vied for territory.

The Hague court, set up to try war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, is under pressure to complete its work by 2010.

Prosecutors had asked the tribunal to transfer the case to a court in Bosnia, complaining that the deadline for the Hague court's closure would unfairly limit the time given to prosecution witnesses.

Their request was refused.