Bosnian Serb faces war crimes court

SARAJEVO (AFP) - Bosnia- Herzegovina's first war crimes trial opened here yesterday with the military prosecutor seeking the death penalty for a Serbian, Borislav Herak, accused of killing 30 people and raping 12 women.

The prosecutor, Ljubo Lukic, said the crimes were part of 'ethnic cleansing' by Serbian forces in Muslim villages around Sarajevo. The courtroom was under heavy security and foreign journalists were frisked.

Mr Herak, 22, from Sarajevo, confessed shortly after his arrest in November. He said he had acted on orders from his superiors. Mr Lukic said he planned to seek the maximum punishment for a colleague of Mr Herak's, Sretko Damjanovic, who is also accused of genocide and participating in ethnic cleansing.

He did not say what punishment he would seek for Mr Damjanovic's companion, Nada Tomic, arrested along with the two men and accused of looting Muslim homes.

Yesterday's session ended with only the charges being read. They described how Mr Herak killed three people from the village of Gornja Bioca, not far from Sarajevo, by pinning down their arms and legs and then raising their heads to cut their throats.

Psychiatrists have determined that Mr Herak was sane and responsible for what he did. Mr Herak, tall, thin, with a small moustache and pale skin, looked down while the charges were being read.

The prosecutor cited the names of 12 Muslim women Mr Herak took one at a time from a restaurant in the village of Vogosce, near Sarajevo, where they were detained. He is alleged to have raped and then killed them.

(Photograph omitted)