Dutch state responsible for three deaths at Srebrenica: Supreme court
THE HAGUE - Reuters
Bosnians pray in front of 409 coffins of newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in the Potocari Memorial Center, near Srebrenica July 11, 2013. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
The Dutch supreme court ruled on Friday that the Dutch state can be held responsible for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslim men who were ordered to leave a U.N. compound in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, upholding an earlier decision by an appeals court.The ruling could have an impact on future U.N. peacekeeping missions, as states could be reluctant to participate in foreign military operations if their troops can be held responsible when things go wrong.
Dutch peacekeeping forces were in charge of a U.N. "safe area" when Bosnian Serb forces overran it in 1995 and killed 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the Srebrenica genocide, Europe's worst massacre since World War Two.
