A Croatian lawmaker, whose conviction for wartime killings of Serb civilians during the 1990s war was quashed by the country's top court, denied all charges at a retrial that opened Monday.
Branimir Glavas pleaded not guilty before a Zagreb court for ordering the 1991 abduction, torture and murder of at least 10 ethnic Serbs in the eastern town of Osijek at the start of the four-year conflict in Croatia, the state-run HRT broadcaster reported.
Glavas was sentenced in 2010 to eight years in jail over his role in the gruesome killings of ethnic Serbs.
But last year the Supreme Court annulled that verdict and ordered a retrial, following a Constitutional Court ruling that the original decision was invalid on procedural grounds.
Glavas, a former general and far-right lawmaker, was the highest-ranking Croatian politician to have been convicted by a local court for war crimes during the conflict.
He was re-elected an MP at last year's snap elections, but his parliamentary immunity was stripped ahead of the trial.
Croatia's proclamation of independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 sparked the war with Belgrade-backed rebel Serbs who opposed the move.
The conflict claimed nearly 20,000 lives.
The proper handling of war crimes cases involving Croatia's own nationals was among key criteria for the country to join the European Union.
Croatia joined the bloc in 2013.