A UNITED NATIONS war crimes tribunal yesterday charged eight Bosnian Serbs with raping and torturing Muslim women, some as young as 15, during a barbarous assault on the southeast Bosnian town of Foca between 1992 and early 1993.
The single indictment against the men, all policemen, soldiers or paramilitaries, is the first to focus specifically on rape as a war crime.
The indictment is of major legal significance as it is the first time that sexual assault has been diligently - investigated for the purpose of prosecution under the rubric of torture . . . as a crime against humanity," the UN criminal tribunal for former Yugoslavia said in a statement.
Earlier, a planned seven day public hearing into alleged atrocities orchestrated by the Bosnian Serb leaders, Dr Radovan Karadzic and Gen Ratko Mladic, was delayed when a tribunal judge barred Dr Karadzic's attorney from sitting in the courtroom.
Dr Karadzic and Gen Mladic are accused of leading a brutal campaign of "ethnic cleansing" and murder in the 3 1/2 year Bosnian war.
A Belgrade lawyer, Mr Igor Pantelic, had asked to be allowed to attend the proceedings to see prosecution evidence "with a view to preparing a possible defence". Judge Claude Jorda told him that, under tribunal rules, defence counsel could not attend so called Rule 61 hearings, but that a seat would be reserved for him the public gallery.
Mr Pantelic told reporters he would remain in The Hague as an observer but would no longer represent Dr Karadzic in this case.
"I am completely disappointed with the (tribunal's) approach in connection with the human rights of one of the accused," he said, adding that the tribunal lacked the courage to accept his presence as Dr Karadzic's agent in court.
The eight Serbs facing sexual crimes charges are accused of separating Muslim women from their menfolk, holding them in camps "run like brothels" and subjecting them to "almost constant rape, sexual assault and torture". Many were left gynaecologically scarred.
The tribunal highlighted the tragic tale of one 15 year old girl, identified as FWS 87, who was enslaved, raped and tortured by countless soldiers over an eight month period.
In February 1993, one of the accused sold the girl to two Montenegro soldiers for 500 marks (£210), the tribunal said.
It also charged nine men with war crimes relating to Bosnian Croat attacks on Muslim villages in the Lasva Valley area of central Bosnia in 1992 and 1993.
It said two indictments, covering the nine men, had been confirmed last November but their announcement had been delayed because of fears for the safety of victims and witnesses.
An earlier indictment relating to Croat Defence Council (HVO) attacks on the Lasva Valley accused eight men, including Mr Dario Kordic, vice president of the Croatian community in Bosnia, and his military head Mr Tihomir Blaskic, of taking part in systematic attacks on Muslim villages and murdering civilians.
It said the worst attack was on the village of Ahmici where "every Muslim house was burned and many unarmed Muslim civilians were deliberately and systematically shot". It alleges that at least 103 Muslims were killed.
In a separate charge, the tribunal accused a Croat policeman of murdering four of his Muslim neighbours and shooting at close range three members of one family, including a young orphaned niece and a man confined to a wheelchair.