New Delhi, April 14 -- The trial of a Ugandan man accused of killing four children began on Monday in a tent not far from where the crime was committed, after the president ordered a mobile court session that could be attended by locals.

It is the first test of the country's controversial mobile court sessions intended to allow people to directly follow cases that draw widespread public interest.

The suspect, Christopher Okello Onyum, is accused of killing the children in a machete attack inside a nursery school in a suburb of the Ugandan capital of Kampala on April 2. The motive remains unclear in the incident that shocked many in this East African country.

Onyum on Monday pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder.

Witnesses said t...