Dutch state liable over 300 of 7000 Srebrenica deaths
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 4:25 pm
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28313285
Dutch state liable over 300 Srebrenica deaths
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The BBC's Anna Holligan: "Lawyers representing the soldiers say they did try to protect the refugees"
A Dutch court has ruled that the Netherlands is liable over the killings of more than 300 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys at Srebrenica in Bosnia-Hercegovina in July 1995.
The men and boys were among 5,000 Bosniaks, mostly women and children, sheltering with Dutch UN peacekeepers.
But the Dutch state was cleared over the deaths of more than 7,000 other men killed in and around Srebrenica.
The Srebrenica massacre is considered Europe's worst since World War Two.
Compensation
The case was launched by relatives of the victims under the name "Mothers of Srebrenica".
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
image of Anna Holligan Anna Holligan BBC News, The Hague
This was a bittersweet judgement for the "Mothers of Srebrenica".
Three of the women came to court bearing the hopes of thousands of survivors on their shoulders. They sat united on the front bench in a dignified silence, as the cameramen jostled to capture their reactions.
The verdict means the mothers, wives and children of more than 300 Bosniaks who were deported from the Dutch-administered compound in Potocari on 13 of July 1995 will be entitled to compensation. But the Mothers of Srebrenica's relatives were not among that group.
For them, it was never about the money. As their lawyer put it, 'How do you put a price on life?'
For the "Mothers of Srebrenica" the verdict failed to deliver the justice and accountability they have dedicated their lives to pursuing.
The Hague district court said that Dutch peacekeeping forces, Dutchbat, did not do enough to protect more than 300 of the Bosniaks and should have been aware of the potential for genocide to be committed.
It said the state should have known they would be killed by Bosnian Serbs when they handed them over from the UN compound of Potocari.
"It can be said with sufficient certainty that, had Dutchbat allowed them to stay at the compound, these men would have remained alive. By co-operating in the deportation of these men, Dutchbat acted unlawfully," the court added.
It said that the Dutch state must accept some degree of responsibility for what happened and pay compensation to the families of more than 300 victims.
But the court stopped short of holding the Netherlands liable for the fate of the majority of men killed in Srebrenica, saying that many of the male refugees at the time had not fled to the UN compound but "fled to the woods in the vicinity of Srebrenica".
The BBC's Anna Holligan, in the courtroom, says it was a hugely significant ruling but a heart-breaking verdict for the women because the Dutch state was only found partly responsible for the deaths of more than 300 of more than 7,000 men killed.