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THE HAGUE, Dec 16 (AFP) - Dutch justice officials have decided to drop inquiries into the conduct of Dutch peacekeeping troops during the fall of Srebrenica and the subsequent massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serbs in 1995.
"A certain number of judicial investigations have been closed, but their outcome and possible consequences will not be made public for the moment," a spokesman for the Arnhem court said Thursday. The Arnhem court had said that after years of investigating the Dutch role in defending the U.N. "safe zone" at Srebrenica, it was to make its findings public next Tuesday.
The statement was a response to the report by the NOS television channel suggesting that all investigations had been dropped, and that no further action would be taken. Allegations against the Dutch troops that they failed to assist people in danger and that they crushed a group of Muslims with a tank have been dropped.
Other cases - involving extreme right-wing behavior and the giving of Nazi salutes by some soldiers, and the mysterious disappearance of a roll of film showing Dutch soldiers separating men and women during the fall of Srebrenica - remain under investigation. Another case that remains open is one about a soldier who claims he was forced by a Serb policeman to execute a young Bosnian will also remain open.
A report commissioned by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that was released November 15 also absolved Dutch peacekeepers of all responsibility for events surrounding the fall of Srebrenica and the massacre of thousands of Muslims.
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