Dutch veterans sue over trauma of Bosnia genocide
More than 200 Dutch army veterans are suing for the trauma and emotional damage they claim they suffered after failing to prevent the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica while serving as United Nations peacekeepers.
The litigation was announced as the Hague Court of Appeal upheld a 2014 civil court judgment, which found that the Dutch government was liable for the murders of 350 men, among the 8,000 Muslims killed in Europe’s worst atrocity since the Second World War. The soldiers who served in the Dutchbat III battalion were UN peacekeepers supposed to be protecting Muslim refugees from Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander who is on trial for the genocide.......
.....206 of the Dutchbat soldiers, including one commander, are claiming €22,000 each, €4.5 million in total, for the trauma they suffered by being given an “impossible mission” to protect the Bosnian Muslims. “They are still experiencing damages in all aspects of their lives and believe that the defence ministry should be held responsible,” said Michael Ruperti, their lawyer, on Monday night.