AN APPEALS court in The Hague has issued a landmark ruling that the Dutch state is responsible for the deaths of three Muslim men who were killed in the Srebrenica massacre, in which 8,000 men and boys were slaughtered by Bosnian Serb troops in July 1995.
The court’s decision – which instructs the government to pay damages to the next-of-kin and opens the door to a potential flood of compensation claims – renews a painful national debate about whether Dutch UN peacekeepers could have prevented the massacre, the worst mass killing in Europe since the second World War.
The 110 lightly armed Dutchbat troops infamously abandoned the UN “safe haven” in the face of a fierce onslaught by Bosnian Serb troops under Gen Ratko Mladic, supported by a notorious Serb paramilitary unit known as the Scorpions.
Mladic is now facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the Srebrenica massacre and the 44-month siege of Sarajevo.
Yesterday’s case was taken by relatives of Rizo Mustafic, who worked as an electrician for Dutchbat, and by Dutchbat interpreter Hasan Nuhanovic, who lost his father and brother when the enclave was overrun.
Because they worked for the Dutch, both Mustafic and Nuhanovic had sought refuge at the Dutchbat headquarters with their families.
Mustafic was turned away and separated from his wife just outside the compound fence. He was killed and she was never seen again. Nuhanovic was allowed to stay, but his father and brother were forced to leave. Their bodies were recovered in 2007 and 2010 respectively.
“The court ruled that the Dutch state is responsible for the deaths of these men because Dutchbat should not have handed them over,” said a court spokesperson.
The ruling itself was even more scathing.
“Dutchbat had been witness to multiple incidents in which the Bosnian Serbs mistreated or executed male refugees outside the compound. The Dutch therefore knew that the men were at great risk were they to leave.”
The appeal court decision overturns a previous ruling that the Netherlands was not responsible for the deaths because Dutchbat was operating under a UN mandate – a ruling that caused outrage among relatives of the dead.
Those relatives last night welcomed the latest decision.
“The fact that the state is finally held responsible for this act of cowardice is some little relief”, said Sabaheta Fejzic (55), whose husband and only son were killed at Srebrenica.
A separate case being taken by the group Mothers of Srebrenica is currently before the supreme court, where lawyers for the Netherlands are seeking a referral to the European Court of Justice with the aim of challenging the immunity of the UN.
Yesterday’s ruling came as the Dutch defence ministry confirmed that it had recovered the geographical co-ordinates of a mass grave believed to contain at least seven bodies within the compound controlled by the Dutch soldiers – and said it would pass them on immediately to the Bosnian government.
The existence of the grave was raised on the TV programme Nieuwsuur last month by a former Dutchbat soldier – whose allegations prompted a promise from defence minister Hans Hillen to make the information public.
The ministry described the site as a “military emergency grave” used to bury fewer than 10 people who died in the compound.
Relatives’ groups say they believe the remains will include a baby, an old man and a girl who died from diabetes.