Netherlands is guilty of serious violations of the war in Afghanistan. These are the words of two lawyers who have done yesterday declaration against the Dutch government on the summit of the Armed Forces as reported by the Dutch magazine Trouw.The Dutch troops have not adequately taken into account the presence of civilians.
According to the lawyers Nico Steijnen and Meindert Stelling, who actively work for the association Lawyers for Peace, these allegations include a battle in the district of Chora where Dutch troops killed between fifty and seventy civilians.
Most of them are according to independent investigation slain by Dutch fire.
The NATO commander in the province of Uruzgan described the use of heavy infantry, which is in violation of war rules but his superiors have a different view regarding this matter according to the Dutch newspaper Trouw.
Het Openbaar Ministerie doet al onderzoek naar het gevecht in Chora in juni, maar volgens de vredesadvocaten heeft Nederland al in 2003 in Afghanistan burgerslachtoffers gemaakt.
The Public Ministry has been conducting an investigation into the battle of Chora since June, but according to the ‘vredesadvocaten’ lawyers of peace, the Netherlands already killed civilians in Afghanistan in 2003.
The lawyers declare in the newspaper that the NATO has given itself ‘carte blanche’ the license to execute the leaders of the Taliban outside the law.
The declaration covers also following Dutch persons, Commander of the Armed Forces Dick Berlin and Secretary-General of NATO Jaap de hoop Scheffer and the highest officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence.
According to Trouw it is expected Wednesday to be known whether the Public Ministry will accept the complaints.
The lawyers, who previously tried to get the Netherlands prosecuted for air strikes in the former Yugoslavia, have already stated to go to a higher court in case the Public Ministry doesn’t want to accept the complaints.
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