Three former commanders in the Bosnian Muslim army pleaded not guilty today at the UN war crimes tribunal.
The pleas were in response to charges linked to atrocities committed against ethnic Croats and Serbs during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
Appearing before the tribunal for the first time since being arrested and transferred to The Hague last week, retired generals Mr Enver Handzihasanovic and Mr Mehmed Alagic and former colonel Mr Amir Kubura denied all charges against them.
Counts in the indictment include murder of civilians, inhumane treatment, the taking of civilian hostages, wanton destruction of villages, plunder and destruction of religious institutions.
The three are not charged with having personally committed the atrocities but for allegedly failing to prevent crimes committed by fighters under their command or punishing those responsible.
The are the first senior Bosnian Muslim commanders indicted by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), based in The Hague.
Mr Hadzihasanovic and Mr Alagic were at different times commanders of the 3rd corps of the Bosnian Muslim army, which included the strictly Muslim seventh brigade that held a number of foreign Islamic militants and was led by Mr Kubura.
The three are charged with crimes committed in 1993, when the 3rd corps was fighting Croat secessionists in central Bosnia.
AFP