The "Mitrovic and Others" case is the first for the Srebrenica crimes to be tried by Bosnia's State Court, whose War Crimes Department was set up as part of the exit strategy of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
The State Court confirmed the indictment against the 11 former Bosnian Serb police officers last December.
They are charged with helping to prepare and commit genocide, namely crimes committed in Kravice and Sandici, two villages near Bratunac, where numerous Bosnian Muslims were killed between July 10-19, 1995, after the occupation of Srebrenica, at the time a UN haven in eastern Bosnia.
In their arraignment before US Judge Richard Gebelein, Branko Djinic, Velibor Maksimovic and Risto Medan pleaded not guilty, while the remaining eight defendants said they did not understand the indictment. The judge interpreted this as not guilty pleas.
Some defendants, like Milenko Trifunovic, said they did not understand the indictment because it was not in his mother tongue and requested that in the future all material be provided in Serbian.
Prosecutor Ibro Bulic said such remarks were unfounded because during the investigation it was clear the defendants understood the language they were being spoken to.
The next hearing was scheduled for February 10.