THE HAGUE, Netherlands, May 12 (UPI) -- The Dutch military was on the defensive Thursday at The Hague as it faced accusations of neglect relating to the 1995 Bosnian massacre at Srebrenica.
The litigation was brought by families of some 7,000 men killed by Bosnian Serbs who overran Dutch soldiers working as part of the United Nations Protection Force, or UNPROFOR.
The survivors want to know who gave what orders in the run-up to Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, the BBC reported.
Lawyer Elizabeth Zegveld, who is leading the legal team for the survivors' families, said Dutch troops should have protected her clients.
"They were in an enclave that was supposed to be a protected area, more so they were in a compound of the Dutch that was a kind of legally protected area," Zegfeld said. "So I think the U.N. military, the Dutch first and foremost, that should have done something, were in a position to do something to protect these people."
The administration of former Prime Minister Wim Kok resigned in April 2002 after an independent report said the Dutch government and senior military officials had failed to prevent the massacre.
