Netherlands, only 10% responsible for Srebrenica massacre

The Dutch Supreme Court upheld the lower-level court's ruling that the Netherlands was partly responsible for 350 Muslims executed in Bosnia's Srebrenica massacre.

The court said the state was responsible for 10% of the tragedy, as this was the probability that Dutch soldiers could have prevented the killings.

“If Dutch forces had given men the opportunity to stay in the protected zone, there was only 10% chance that they would not have fallen into the hands of Serbs, and therefore the Dutch state should only be responsible for that part of the damage”, the court ruling said.

Although the Appeals Court had ruled that the Netherlands was 30% responsible, the Supreme Court ruled for only 10%.

The issue is the handover of these Muslim men by Dutch UN troops, who were later executed by Serb forces.

The Netherlands had always been declared that its troops were in an impossible “transmission”.

This case was initiated by a group of relatives of the victims, known as the Mothers of Srebrenica.

They asked the UN to recognise the blame and compensate, but the organisation declared itself immune to prosecution.

Otherwise, in 2002 a report in the Netherlands' role in Srebrenica prompted the entire Dutch government to resign.