Some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the Srebrenica massacre A court in the Netherlands has ruled the Dutch state was responsible for the deaths of three Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia.
The Dutch were in charge of the UN "safe area" in July 1995 when Bosnian Serb forces overran it and killed 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.
The Dutch government has always said its troops were abandoned by the UN.
The ruling was unexpected, and may open the way for other compensation claims.
"The court ruled that the Dutch state is responsible for the death of these men because Dutchbat [Dutch UN troops] should not have handed them over," a spokeswoman for the court in The Hague said.
The appeals court's judges have ordered the government to pay compensation to the dead men's relatives.
It was a complete surprise verdict for both the plaintiffs, their lawyers and the prosecutor, the Dutch state, says the BBC's Lauren Comiteau at the court in The Hague.
The court said that even though Dutchbat was working under the UN after the fall of Srebrenica, in the situation which they called "extraordinary", the Dutch government became more involved with Dutchbat and the evacuation, and in that sense they were responsible, our correspondent says.
A court had previously ruled in 2008 that the Dutch state was not responsible for the deaths of Bosnian Dutchbat employees and their families because the soldiers were operating under a UN mandate.
It also said at the time that the Dutch state was "not liable for wrongful action taken by those in charge of the armed forces or members of the national government".
The Srebrenica massacre remains a sensitive issue in the Netherlands, correspondents say; in 2002, the government fell after an official report was heavily critical of Dutch actions when the killings took place.
The Dutch state, which has faced several cases in recent years over Srebrenica, has always argued that it was let down by the UN, which failed to give its troops sufficient support.
The case was brought by relatives of Rizo Mustafic, who worked as an electrician for Dutchbat, and by Dutchbat interpreter Hasan Nuhanovic, who lost his father and brother in the fall of the Muslim enclave.
Dutch peacekeepers forced thousands of Bosnian Muslims out of the UN compound in Srebenica in July 1995 They filed a lawsuit against the Dutch state because Dutchbat handed over their relatives to the Bosnian Serbs.
The victims were working for Dutchbat and were among thousands of Muslims who took shelter in the UN compound as Bosnian Serb forces commanded by Gen Ratko Mladic overran Srebrenica on 11 July during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
Two days later, Dutch peacekeepers forced the Muslims out of the compound.
The ruling said even though the Dutch soldiers were operating under a UN mandate, they were under "effective control" of top military and government officials in The Hague when they ordered the hundreds of Muslim men and boys out of their compound.
The ruling said the three men were among the last to be expelled and by that time the peacekeepers already had seen Bosnian Serb troops abusing Muslim men and boys and should have known they faced the real threat of being killed.
"Dutchbat should not have turned these men over to the Serbs," a summary of the judgment said.
"The Dutchbat had been witness to multiple incidents in which the Bosnian Serbs mistreated or killed male refugees outside the compound. The Dutch therefore knew that... the men were at great risk if they were to leave the compound," the court said in its ruling.
Mr Mustafic was forced to leave and was separated from his wife just outside the compound fence and taken away, and was never heard of again.
Hasan Nuhanovic was allowed to stay, but his relatives were forced to leave. The remains of his father and brother were recovered in 2007 and 2010.
Gen Mladic is currently on trial in The Hague, charged on 11 counts including genocide of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Srebrenica during the Bosnian war.
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-14026218
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