[JURIST] The trial of Milan Martic [BBC profile], former leader of the erstwhile Serb republic in Croatia [Wikipedia backgrounder] who has been charged with exterminating hundreds of Croat, Muslim and other non-Serb civilians between 1991 and 1995, began [ICTY press release] Tuesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Martic is also charged with persecution, imprisonment, torture, inhumane acts, cruel treatment, deportation, forcible transfer, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction and unlawful attacks on civilians allegedly committed in "ethnic cleansing" during the same period. BBC News has more.