 |
| Col. (ret) Thom Karremans |
NL Times has
this story about developments in the Arnhem Court of Appeal. As fallout of
last year's Netherlands Supreme Court decision that the Dutch state is civilly liable, relatives of three locally-hired employees who died in the 1995 Srbrenica massacre have sought to have the battalion commander (Col. (ret)
Thom Karremans), second-in-command and human resources director criminally prosecuted. The public prosecutor has declined the case, but proceedings have been instituted in the military chamber of the Arnhem Court of Appeal to require a criminal case to be brought. The latest issue to arise is an effort by the plaintiffs to exclude from those proceedings the sole military lawyer of the three-judge chamber.
NL Times reports:
 |
| Liesbeth Zegveld |
According to NOS [Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation], the court will table the latest request from the relatives in the autumn of this year but the relatives demand that it is not handled by the military court, because there are concerns about impartiality.
Attorney Liesbeth Zegveld who represents the relatives said that the Ministry of Defense has been too deeply involved in the case. She said that there are indications that the Ministry influenced the previous decision by the court not to prosecute the retired colonel.
She also said that the Ministry “frustrated” attempts to unearth the truth. “It goes beyond making evidence disappear. The Military Judge works for the Ministry of Defense. Involvement of a soldier in the decision about this request is highly problematic,” said Zegveld.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to moderation and must be submitted under your real name. Anonymous comments will not be posted (even though the form seems to permit them).