Netherlands responsible for Srebrenica deaths, Dutch court rules

The Netherlands was responsible for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslim men during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre by Bosnian Serb forces, dpa cited the Dutch Supreme Court as ruling on Friday. The court said that Dutch UN peacekeeping troops refused to give shelter to the three, and that their relatives have the right to seek compensation. The verdict upheld an earlier ruling by a lower court. Srebrenica was a designated safe haven for Muslims in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, under the protection of Dutch UN peacekeepers. The peacekeepers failed to stop Serb forces from taking over the enclave in July 1995, and killing some 8,000 Muslim men and boys. The three Muslims at the centre of the court case - a UN-employed interpreter, his father and brother - had sought refuge in the compound of the Dutch battalion, but were turned away and eventually killed by Serb forces. The court ruled that it was the Netherlands - not the UN - that was responsible for actions of the peacekeepers.