Thom Karremans commanded the Dutch UN peacekeepers, ‘Dutchbat’, who were guarding the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica when it fell to Ratko Mladic’s Bosnian Serb forces in 1995. He thinks he may well face prosecution in connection with the massacre of over 7,000 Muslim men and boys by Mladic’s troops.
By Erik Klooster
Sixteen years after the event, the former Bosnian Serb general is being tried by the Yugoslavia tribunal in The Hague, but the Dutchbat military command may also be taken to court.
The Court of Appeal in The Hague recently ruled that the Dutch state is liable for the deaths of at least three Muslims around the time of the fall of Srebrenica. The case was brought by relatives of Rizo Mustafic who worked as an electrician for Dutchbat.
He was expelled from the Dutch soldiers’ compound and was later killed by the Bosnian Serb troops. His relatives think he could have been saved and so now does Colonel Karremans. He was interviewed on Dutch television on Wednesday evening:
“If it’s true that so much time separated the departure of the Mustafic family and that of the last Muslim, which is what I understand from the judge’s ruling, then I should really be ashamed. Then, there would have been enough time and space to take another course of action: to keep all the people in the compound - and save them.”
Murder
Military historian Christ Klep is following the case as it develops. He thinks it’s all about whether Mr Karremans could have foreseen the murder of the electrician and the two other men:
“The question now being asked, and which will have to be dealt with if a case comes to court, is whether he could have known what was happening. He now says: ‘Those under my command did it. They sent those people away from the compound.’ Should Mr Karremans have done something about it if he knew what was going on?”
In the interview, Mr Karremans describes Mladic as a terrible man. Both are identified with the fall of Srebrenica and video footage of them together has been on shown on television all over the world. In it, Mladic can be seen humiliating the Dutchbat commander, but later gives him a present. Mr Karremans then asks whether it is for his wife. The scene does not improve the image of Mr Karremans and his Dutchbat men.
Threatened
After coming back to the Netherlands, Mr Karremans was often recognised by people:
“If you’re in Amsterdam in a pub and a bloke sitting there shouts: ‘Well! Look at that bastard! They should’ve killed him as well’ - or something similar. I’ve had to put up with that sort of thing often, although it’s quite a bit better now. I did feel threatened for a while. It’s not a coincidence that we’ve lived away from the Netherlands for the last 16 years.”
The Public Prosecutor’s office will decide in the autumn whether to prosecute Mr Karremans and other members of the Dutchbat command.
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It's time for the truth about Srebrenica:
http://www.ahriman.com/en/srebrenica.htm
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