Press release June 1, 2007

For the first time since the Second World War, in July 1995 whilst the Dutch military were present in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, genocide took place. As a result, between 8,000 and 10,000 people lost their lives. A group of approximately 6000 surviving relatives, also known as the Mothers of Srebrenica, requested that Van Diepen Van der Kroef Advocaten begin a civil action against the Dutch state and the United Nations (UN).

In the last three years a strong case has been built against the Dutch state and the UN, who will be held jointly responsible for the fall of the enclave and the genocide that took place there as a result. The procedure must lead to a result whereby the relatives who survived this drama can finally get recognition and a sense of satisfaction. The summons will be issued on Monday 4 June 2007 in The Hague.

In order to give the national and international public a chance to form an accurate picture of what happened at the time of the fall of Srebrenica in 1995, the summons on Monday 4 June 2007 will be published on the website www.vandiepen.com from 18.00 in several languages.

Regarding the sequence of events on Monday 4 June 2007, we would like to inform you that the writ of summons will be presented to the “Ministerie van Algemene Zaken” in The Hague around 12.00 to 13.00 hrs. This will take place in the presence of a delegation of about 200 relatives who will travel over from Bosnië-Herzegovina.

Alongside this we would like to announce that the NCRV channel will adjust its programming on that Monday. The programme “Netwerk” on (Nederland 2) will completely cover this drama. Following on from this, in “Dokument”, a 50 minute documentary called “Srebrenica, aanklacht tegen het opperbevel ” (without subtitling) will be broadcasted (Nederland 2). In order to give the media the opportunity to be aware of the contents of this documentary before it is broadcasted, a preview will take place in Hilversum at the NCRV at 16.00 hrs on Monday 4 June 2007. The below mentioned attorneys shall be attending for possible questions.

Finally you are informed that no clarification with regard to these issues will be given before 11.00 hrs. (CET) on Monday 4 June 2007.

Download press release (77Kb)