BRUSSELS, March 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The military leader of Bosnia's Muslim forces, General Rasim Delic, pleaded not guilty to war crimes at his first appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague on Thursday morning.

    Delic, who surrendered voluntarily to the Netherlands-based tribunal on Monday, has repeatedly denied war crimes.

    The former chief of staff is accused by the tribunal of allowing his forces to commit atrocities against Serbian and Croatian prisoners of war during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

    A day earlier, two former Serbian generals Radivoje Miletic andMilan Gvero made their initial appearances at the tribunal, said the tribunal website.

    Gvero pleaded not guilty and Miletic is scheduled to give his plea next month.

    According to Radio Netherlands, former Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Momcilo Perisic also announced that he will be appearing at The Hague tribunal next week. The exact charges against him arenot yet known.

    Perisic will be the fourth suspect to surrender in a month in what are widely seen as goodwill gestures by Belgrade which hopes to get its foot in the door of the European Union. Enditem