WARNING: THE “SLAUGHTER” LINK CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
A case before a Dutch court will determine whether Dutch peacekeepers operating under the flag of the United Nations are liable for the 1995 massacre of thousands of Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
In July 1995, forces from the paramilitary group The Scorpions, oversaw the detention and subsequent slaughter of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim males determined to be of military age.
The families of roughly 6,000 victims killed by the paramilitary force are suing the United Nations because the Dutch peacekeeping force did not intervene in the massacre. Srebrenica at the time was a U.N. mandated safe haven.
The United Nations, supported by Amsterdam, claims immunity in the case.
Taking an apparent page from claims supporting the U.S. decision to not sign onto The International Criminal Court, Amsterdam's lawyer Bert-Jan Houtzagers said the United Nations must be permitted to conduct peacekeeping operations without facing prosecution, the BBC said Wednesday.
“The Bosnian Serbs are the ones who are to blame, especially General (Ratko) Mladic. He is a war criminal,” he said.
