Belgrade's Special Court held a preliminary hearing on Friday in a new trial for four Serb men accused of war crimes against civilians in western Croatia in 1991.
The court had ruled on March 14 last year on the events in the town of Licki Osik, sentencing each of the accused -- Cedo Budisavljevic, Mirko Malinovic, Milan Bogunovic and Bogdan Gruicic -- to 12 years in prison.
But the Serbian Appellate Court quashed the judgment and send the case back to the court for a new trial.
The accused were members of police units in the former Serbian Autonomous Region of Krajina. They are charged with killing five civilians in Licki Osik in October 1991 during Croatia's war of independence from Yugoslavia.
According to the indictment, the accused arrested the five members of the Croat Racic family on suspicion that they had collaborated with the Croatian army. The accused allegedly killed four members of the family at the Golubnjača cave, after tying their hands, taping their mouths and driving them to the site. The victims' bodies were then thrown into the cave.
A female family member was killed in the family holiday's home and then Budisavljevic, Malinovic and Bogunovic set fire to her body and the house, according to the indictment.
The president of the court's council will set a date for the main trial following the preliminary hearing.
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Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.