Writ of summons - Van Diepen Van der Kroef

shocked by what he had evidently seen that he did not wish to talk about it. He ended hislife during the night by hanging himself. Dutchbat removed his corpse the following day(see page 2688 of the NIOD Report).250. A Dutchbat soldier anonymously stated in 1995 that a couple of refugees had hangedthemselves in despair. First a Dutchbat soldier openly stated before the YugoslaviaTribunal at first instance in the case Krstic that he had seen three to four suicide victims,two of whom he had cut down. An UNMO (UN Military Observers) stated also in thoseproceedings that he had cut down two men. The NIOD concluded in its Report that theprobability was that Dutchbat soldiers had seen more suicides but had not formallyreported them (see page 2688 of the NIOD Report).251. The Dutch ministers who were in the Defence Crisis Management Centre (DCBC) inThe Hague on 11 July 1995 learned that the Serbs had overrun the Safe Area, and thatthirty hostages were in the hands of the VRS. There were other dispatches that all thewomen and children would be allowed to leave and that raised grave fears for the menand for wholesale slaughter (see page 2296 et seq. of the NIOD Report). It is stated onthat page also that the Spanish President of the EU was preparing a statement onSrebrenica and that Spain was of the opinion that Dutch soldiers must continue toprotect the local population. In its view The Netherlands was faced with a choice ofcontinuing with the humanitarian task or of ensuring the safety of its own soldiers. TheNIOD Report states on page 2299 that Dutch Prime Minister Kok declared that theprinciple was that Dutchbat was responsible for the fate and the future of the civilianpopulation. Despite that utterance the priority of the State of the Netherlands remainedcentred, however, on its own soldiers. By making that choice the State of theNetherlands failed to appreciate that the observed crimes should somehow have beenreported. If the alarm had been raised, action – by others if needs be – could have beentaken.252. The UN Report concluded (under points 346 through 358, as well as under point 474)that it was incomprehensible that Dutchbat did not report the war crimes where Dutchbatwas a witness. The UN Report will be discussed below. The reason for not reporting the© Van Diepen Van der Kroef Advocaten 2007www.vandiepen.com113