Dutch Courts Competent to Try Yugoslav War Crimes

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled in a decision of November 11th, 1997, that Dutch Courts (military chamber) are competent to try violations of international humanitarian law, wherever committed and regardless of whether the Netherlands is a party to the conflict. The Supreme Court came to this far reaching conclusion in the case of Knesevic, born in Banja Luka and prosecuted before the District Court of Arnhem on accusations of having committed two killings, deportation of civilians to a concentration camp, and sexual assault on two women in the region of Prijedor, Bosnia Herzegovina, in June 1992... [more]