(ANSA) - TRIESTE - The first trial in Serbia for the mass killings of Bosniaks from Srebrenica will continue, after an appeals court overturned a previous ruling that required the prosecutor to file new charges, Beta news agency reported. The trial of eight former policemen charged with a massacre of Bosniaks from Srebrenica in the village of Kravica in July 1995 can continue.

The trial opened in February this year but the original charges were dismissed in July because they were not filed by the authorized prosecutor, as the Serbian war crimes prosecutor's position was vacant at the time. The new war crimes prosecutor, Snezana Stanojkovic, then filed a motion to continue the trial, but this was rejected by the Higher Court. The Higher Court has now been overturned by the Appeals Court, allowing the trial to continue.

The eight former members of a Bosnian Serb special police unit stand accused of organizing and participating in the shooting of more than 1,300 Bosniak civilians in an agricultural warehouse. The prisoners were captured after Srebrenica fell to Bosnian Serb forces. The killings were among several massacres by Bosnian Serb forces after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995 that left some 8,000 Bosniak men and boys dead. (ANSA).