By Sarah Rainsford / BBC News, Van  

Days of violent protests by Turkish Kurds followed the grenade attack

Two military policemen have gone on trial in Turkey charged with an attack on a shop owned by a supporter of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

One man was killed and another injured in the grenade attack last November in Semdinli, near the Iraqi border.

The prosecution says the officers were part of an execution squad, set up to target suspected insurgents.

No senior military figure in Turkey has ever been prosecuted for human rights abuses against the Kurds.

Dozens of lawyers and human rights activists have descended on Van, in eastern Turkey, for this trial, already hugely controversial before it has even begun.

The accused men are paramilitary intelligence officers, arrested at the scene of the attack.

'Vital investigation' 

Most people in this region are Kurdish and they see the case as proof that the Turkish security forces are resorting to illegal practices, common at the height of the fighting here in the 1990s.

Observers say it is vital these allegations are investigated thoroughly.

But there are concerns about how independent the courts in Van can be.

The state prosecutor was suspended from duty after his indictment called for a parallel investigation into a senior military commander.

That same commander has spoken out publicly in defence of one of the accused. Local lawyers believe these are warning shots to the trial judge not to dig too deeply.

Amnesty International calls it flagrant interference, warning it may have a chilling effect on the proper administration of justice.