A Bosnian Serb general goes before the UN war crimes court Monday in the first trial concerning the 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo that killed nearly 12,000 people, mosly civilians.
Stanislav Galic, 58, faces charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes for ordering the sniping and shelling of civilians during the siege that terrorized residents and made everyday life nearly impossible.
Galic -- who commanded Bosnian Serb forces from September 1992 until August 1994 -- has pleaded not guilty to all seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity listed in the indictment issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) here.
He is accused of directing "shelling and sniping at civilians who were tending vegetable plots, queueing for bread, collecting water, attending funerals, shopping in markets, riding on trams, gathering wood, or simply walking with their children and friends".
The charges hold Galic responsible for one of the bloodiest incidents during the siege of Sarajevo -- when a mortar shell slammed into a crowded market in February 1994, killing 66 people and wounding over 140.
"In addition to the sheer human carnage that the shelling and the sniping caused, the endless threat of death and maiming caused extensive trauma and psychological damage to the inhabitants of Sarajevo," the indictment states.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights estimates that 11,700 people, including over 1,500 children died in the siege.
Galic was arrested by North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Bosnia on December 20, 1999, and has been held in custody ever since.
His lawyers have said that he will argue that the Serbian army was used only to protect Serbs in Sarajevo against attacks from Bosnian Muslim forces, and that it did not deliberately direct its attacks against the civilian population.
The ICTY has also indicted Galic's successor as commander of the Romanija Corps of the Bosnian Serb army, Dragomir Milosevic, as well as former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, in connection with the siege.
All three remain on the run.
The trial is set to begin at 2:15 pm (1315 GMT) Monday -- (AFP)
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