The Hague Says Netherlands ‘Responsible’ For Three Srebrenica Deaths
The Dutch state was responsible for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, in July 1995, according to the shock ruling by a court in the Netherlands. Overturning a 2008 ruling rejecting responsibility, judges in this unexpected judgement ordered the Dutch Government to pay compensation in the case brought by the dead men’s relatives.
“The State of the Netherlands is responsible for the death of three Muslim men after the fall of Srebrenica”, the court said in a statement. The Dutch “should not have turned these men over to the Serbs,” the court said in its ruling.
Dutch troops (Dutchbat) were in charge of the UN safe area in Srebrenica when Bosnian Serb forces moved in – unimpeded by the lightly-armed Dutch UN Peacekeepers – and removed up to 8,000 men and boys. The UN has declared their subsequent murder acts of genocide.
The Dutch government has maintained that the UN failed to provide Dutch troops with adequate means to protect the safe zone or its occupants and denied responsibility for the deaths. But today’s court statement said that, even though Dutch soldiers were operating under a UN mandate, they were under the ‘effective control’ of Dutch military and government in The Hague when they ordered hundreds of Muslim men and boys out of their compound.
The court said Dutch troops had witnessed the abuse and execution of Muslim men at the hands of Bosnian Serb forces and they should have realised the danger these men would be in if they made them leave the enclave. In that sense they were responsible for these deaths.
Relatives of Dutchbat electrician Rizo Mustafic brought this case, alongside interpreter Hasan Nuhanovic, who lost his father and brother in the massacre. They filed a lawsuit against the Dutch state because the Dutch handed over their relatives to Bosnian Serbs under the command of General Ratko Mladic, despite the men trying to seek refuge in the Dutch HQ. Hasan Nuhanovic was allowed to stay, but his relatives were told to leave.
They were among the last of 5,000 men who had sought refuge in the Dutch compound. General Ratko Mladic currently stands on trial in the Hague on eleven counts of genocide and crimes against humanity, including incidents surrounding Srebrenica.
It is thought that this shock landmark ruling could open the doors to compensation claims from victims of the massacre. Dutch media have been shocked by this verdict and it is set to open old wounds in the Netherlands. In 2002, the Dutch government fell after a critical report into the Dutch handling of the Srebrenica incident.
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