Srebrenica victims win landmark case against Dutch

THE Netherlands was responsible for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslim men slain by Serbs during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, appeals judges have ruled, ordering the Dutch government to compensate the men’s relatives.

The landmark ruling could open the path to other compensation claims by relatives who say the victims should have been protected by the Dutch UN peacekeepers in charge of the UN “safe zone” near Srebrenica during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

It could also have wider implications for countries sending troops on UN peacekeeping missions, as it opens the possibility of national governments being taken to court for the actions of their troops even when they are under UN control.

The case was brought by Hasan Nuhanovic, an interpreter who lost his brother and father, and relatives of Rizo Mustafic, an electrician who was killed. They argued all three men should have been protected by Dutch peacekeepers. Mustafic and Nuhanovic were employed by the Dutch peacekeepers, but Nuhanovic’s father and brother were not.

One of the relatives, Damir Mustafic, said outside court the ruling came just days before he was to bury his father’s remains in a Srebrenica cemetery.

“I am very happy, finally,” Mustafic said. “It has been a long case and it feels especially good because on the 11th, I have to bury my father.”

The victims were among thousands of Muslims who took shelter in the UN compound as Bosnian Serb forces commanded by Gen Ratko Mladic overran Srebrenica on July 11 in what was to become the bloody climax to the 1992-95 Bosnian war that claimed 100,000 lives.

Two days later, the outnumbered Dutch peacekeepers bowed to pressure from Mladic’s troops and forced thousands of Muslim families out of the compound. Bosnian Serb forces sorted the Muslims by gender, then trucked the males away and beganexecuting some 8,000 Muslim men and boys.