Updated

Dutch prosecutors say they will not prosecute the retired general who commanded Dutch peacekeepers in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica when Bosnian Serb fighters overran the town and massacred some 8,000 Muslim men.

Relatives of three victims of the worst massacre in Europe since World War II wanted Gen. Thom Karremans held criminally responsible for their deaths.

Prosecutors said in a statement Thursday that Karremans and two other senior Dutch officers "cannot be held liable under criminal law for having been involved in the crimes committed by the Bosnian Serbian Army in July 1995 in Srebrenica."

In a separate civil suit brought by the relatives of the three victims, a Hague court ruled that the Dutch state is liable for the deaths. That judgment is under appeal.