Oslo - A Norwegian of Bosnian descent went on trial in Oslo Wednesday, accused of torture and other crimes against Serbian civilians during the Balkans war.

Mirsad Repak, 41, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which date back to 1992 before he fled to Norway and was granted Norwegian nationality.

Charges were brought against him on the basis of information provided by Bosnian authorities.

Repak's lawyer called for the case to be dropped on the grounds that it was based on a section of the penal code that did not come into force until after the crimes were committed.

Defence lawyer Heidi Bache-Wiig said it was not permissible to apply laws in a back-dated manner.

Before pressing ahead with the case, the court planned to look into this and whether Norwegian citizens can be tried for crimes committed outside Norway when they were nationals of another country.

The issue of whether the statute of limitations applied to the crimes was also being considered by the court, which planned to make its decision known by Monday.

It is the first time a person has been charged with war crimes in Norway since the aftermath of World War II.