Tag Archives: Srebrenica
6 September 2013
The Dutch Supreme Court held today, on 6 September, that the Netherlands is responsible for the death of three Muslim men in Srebrenica in 1995.
The three men had sought refuge in the compound of Dutchbat, the Dutch battalion, who decided to not evacuate these men along with the battalion. Instead, these men were sent away from the compound, where they were murdered by the Bosnian-Serb army or connected paramilitary groups. The Supreme Court upheld the findings of the Court of Appeal, both in respect of attribution of the conduct to the Netherlands and in respect of the wrongfulness of the conduct.
The press release (in English) can be found here.
A blog post highlighting the most important sections of the judgment and explaining the two central issues, attribution and wrongful conduct, will be posted on this website shortly.
Source: Hoge Raad der Nederlanden | Nieuws | State responsible for death of three Muslim men in Srebrenica
28 June 2013
On 11 June 2013, the European Court of Human Rights decided unanimously to declare inadmissible ratione personae the application in the case of Stichting Mothers of Srebrenica and Others v. the Netherlands. The case concerned alleged violations of Articles 6 and 13 of the Convention by the Netherlands arising from the grant of immunity from national jurisdiction by Dutch courts to the United Nations in relation to a civil complaint lodged against the UN concerning the Srebrenica massacre. A parallel case against the State of the Netherlands is currently pending before the Hague District Court.
According to the Court, the foundation Mothers of Srebrenica was not itself affected by the matters complained of under Articles 6 and 13 and therefore had no standing before the Court. The Court nevertheless proceeded to assess the material claims of the applicants. It stated in that regard that, in the absence of an alternative remedy, the recognition of immunity does not ipso facto constitute a violation of the right of access to court, and concluded that the fact that the UN had not made provisions for appropriate modes of settlement was not imputable to the Netherlands.
Source: HUDOC | Stichting Mothers of Srebrenica and Others v. the Netherlands
3 May 2013
On 3 May, the Procurator General of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands (mr. P. Vlas) concluded in his so-called ‘advisory opinion’ that the appeal against the Judgment of the Court of Appeal of the Hague, which found that the Netherlands was liable for evicting Bosnian nationals from the compound of Dutchbat in Srebrenica on 12 July 1995, should be rejected. The main task of the Procurator General of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands is to provide independent advice (known as ‘advisory opinion’) to the members of the Supreme Court on how to rule in the cassation proceedings that are before the Court.
The advisory opinion is very rich in legal analysis of questions of shared responsibility. It cites no less than four papers written as part of the SHARES Project, and will be commented upon more fully at a later stage. A few quick points that stand out will be identified below. (more…)
8 March 2013
ABC News announced that former Dutchbat general Karremans, who commanded the Dutch peacekeepers in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, and two other officers (Franken and Oosterveen), will not be prosecuted for their involvement in the genocide and war crimes that were committed by Bosnian-Serb fighters who overran the enclave and subsequently massacred around 8.000 Muslim men in 1995.
The surviving relatives of three victims of the massacre (the cases of Mustafić and Nuhanović) asked for a criminal case to be launched against the three officers. The relatives wanted Karremans to be held criminally responsible for the deaths of their loved ones, arguing that he turned them over to the Serbs (general Mladic), although he should have offered the men protection because they (or their relatives) had worked for the Dutch peacekeepers.
Source: ABC News | Associated Press | Dutch Peacekeeper Not Prosecuted for Srebrenica
Source: NOS | Karremans niet vervolgd (in Dutch)
27 June 2012
On 26 June 2012, the State of the Netherlands announced it will appeal the decisions of The Hague Court of Appeal of 5 July 2011 in the cases of Mustafić and Nuhanović (LJN: BR5386 and BR5388).
In July 2011, the Court of Appeal of The Hague held the Dutch State responsible for the death of three Bosnian-Muslim men, who were killed by Bosnian-Serb troops after having being sent away from UNPROFOR facilities in Srebrenica. (more…)
Source: DutchNews.nl | Dutch state to appeal against Srebrenica liability ruling
Source: NRC | Staat in cassatie tegen uitspraak Srebrenica-zaak