Judges began hearing the war crimes case Tuesday of the highest-ranking Bosnian Muslims to stand trial at the Hague tribunal -- two former army commanders charged with atrocities during the 1990s Balkan wars.

Retired general Enver Hadzihasanovic and brigadier Amir Kubura have denied responsibility for murders of Croats and Serbs, many of them the prosecution says were killed by foreign Islamic fighters.

The commanders in the 3rd Corps of the Bosnia-Herzegovina army are accused of failing to prevent the cruel treatment and killing of detained Bosnian Croats and Serbs.

At least 200 Croats and Serb civilians were killed during Muslim attacks on Croat forces in central Bosnia between January 1993 and January 1994. Prosecutors say captives were forced to dig trenches under fire or used as human shields.

The prosecution also says many of the crimes were committed by "mujahideen" -- Muslim holy warriors -- who flocked from Islamic countries to fight alongside Bosnian Muslims during the bitter ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

Hadzihasanovic, 53, and Kubura, 39, were transferred in August 2001 to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Hadzihasanovic pleaded not guilty to seven counts of war crimes and Kubura to six counts before both were provisionally released in December 2001 ahead of their trial.

A third Bosnian Muslim officer, Mehmed Alagic, was indicted and transferred along with Hadzihasanovic and Kubura but he died in March.

Serbs accuse the tribunal of bias against them, saying it prosecutes more Serbs than members of other ethnic groups. The tribunal has indicted senior figures from all three of Bosnia's ethnic groups.

Bosnia's Muslims and Croats began the war as allies against the Serbs but then fought each other for territory in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is the highest-profile figure in the tribunal's custody. He has been on trial since February 2002 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.

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