Dutch Court Rules in Favor of Srebrenica Victims

VOA News July 05, 2011

An appeals court in the Netherlands has ruled that the Dutch state is responsible for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslims during the 1995 massacre in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

The court said the Dutch United Nations forces, who were guarding the region at the time as part of a U.N. "safe zone," did not do enough to protect the Bosnian Muslim population, saying Dutch forces "turned these men over" to the Bosnian Serb army.

The court ordered the Dutch government to compensate the families of the three men, although no dollar figure was provided.

Around 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed at Srebrenica, making it Europe's worst mass killing since the end of World War Two.

Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic faces charges in The Hague for war crimes and genocide related to the crime.

Mladic berated judges Monday, refusing to enter a plea on 11 charges against him, before the presiding judge, Alphons Orie, formally entered not guilty pleas for the 69-year-old Bosnian Serb. Mladic was arrested in May after 16 years on the run. If convicted, Mladic faces life in prison.

Mladic is accused of orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre and the 44-month siege of Bosnia's capital city, Sarajevo, in which 10,000 people died.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.