The Hague - The UN war crimes tribunal broke new ground yesterday by opening a rape trial against three Bosnian Serbs in the first case before the court to treat rape and sexual enslavement as a crime against humanity.
The trial of the men, who are charged with atrocities during the 1992-95 Bosnia war, could have an important impact on international law, the tribunal said. Prosecutors say the three military commanders raped, tortured and enslaved Muslim women as part of an "ethnic cleansing" campaign in Foca in south-eastern Bosnia in 1992.