Dutch government ‘partially liable’ in Srebrenica deaths

A Dutch appeals court has ruled that the government was partially liable in the deaths of more than 300 Muslim men killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

The ruling formally struck down a civil court’s landmark 2014 judgment that said the state was liable in the deaths of the Bosnian Muslim men and boys who were turned over by Dutch UN peacekeepers to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995 and subsequently killed.

But the appeals panel largely upheld the earlier case’s findings while significantly cutting the amount of damages relatives of the dead could receive by assessing the victims’ chances of survival had they remained in the care of the Dutch troops.

The court estimated the chances of Muslim males’ survival if they had stayed in the Dutch compound at around 30 per cent.

“The state is therefore liable for 30 per cent of the losses suffered by the relatives,” the court said in a statement. The 2014 judgment did not include that qualification.

In a written reaction, the Dutch Defence Ministry said the government would carefully study the latest ruling.

“The starting point is that the Bosnian Serbs were responsible,” the statement said.

The appeals judgment is the latest in a string of legal cases in the Netherlands concerning the country’s role in the Srebrenica massacre and whether the country’s soldiers could or should have done more to prevent the mass killings.

Hague Appeals Court presiding judge Gepke Dulek said the men were killed after being removed by Dutch UN peacekeepers from their compound during a mass evacuation.

Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic had overrun the Un-declared safe haven in eastern Bosnia. “By having the men leave the compound unreservedly, they were deprived of a chance of survival,” presiding judge Gepke Dulek said. The men were among around 8,000 Muslim men and boys killed by Bosnian Serb forces in Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.

The ruling angered a group of female relatives of victims of the massacre who were in court for the ruling.

Munira Subasic, who leads an organisation called the Mothers of Srebrenica that brought the case, stood up and waved her finger at the judge after the ruling, saying “this is a huge injustice”.

Lawyers for the victims can now begin discussions with government lawyers about compensation. Lawyer Marco Gerritsen, who represented the relatives, said he understood the relatives’ anger. “But from a legal point of view it is not that bad,” he said.