The International Court of Justice in The Hague must decide whether Croatia or Serbia -- or both - are guilty of genocide during the Croatian 1991 - 95 independence war.
Croatia wants the Court to rule that Serbia committed genocide across the country but especially in the eastern city of Vukovar in 1991.
It accuses the Belgrade authorities of ethnic cleansing against some 20,000 Croatian citizens, particularly in Vukovar where fighting was heaviest.
The Croatian legal team said it hoped the trial would shed light on the fate of almost 1,700 people still missing.
They're believed to have been killed and buried in mass graves byYugoslav forces.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) CROATIAN LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE VESNA CRNIC-GROTIC SAYING:
"The 1948 Convention aimed at preventing and outlawing actions of the kind that were taken on the territory of Croatia. Beginning in the summer of 1990, it started with unrest and instability in the areas where the Serbs lived, but
