The Prosecutor’s Office in the Dutch city of Arnhem has launched an inquiry into the facts surrounding the actions of the Dutchbat forces in Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995.

The move follows the formal filing of a complaint by relatives of victims of the Srebrenica massacre. Their lawyer, Liesbeth Zegveld, says the accused include Dutchbat Commander Thom Karremans, Deputy Commander Rob Franken and personnel officer Berend Oosterveen.

Hasan Nuhanovic, who was an interpreter for the Dutchbat forces, and relatives of Rizo Mustafic who was working as an electrician for the Dutch are bringing the case. They accuse the Dutch soldiers of handing their relatives over to Bosnian Serb troops who later killed them.

The Dutchbat peacekeepers were charged with protecting Srebrenica, a United Nations enclave. On 11 July 1995, it fell to the Bosnian Serbs who later massacred around 8,000 Muslim men and boys who had been living in the enclave.

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