Srebrenica: Dutch Blamed For Three Deaths

An appeal court in the Netherlands has ruled the Dutch state is responsible for the deaths of three Muslim men during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

The ruling could pave the way for other compensation claims by victims who say their male relatives should have been protected by the Dutch UN peacekeepers in charge of the UN's "safe zone" near Srebrenica during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.

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 that the 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 that the ruling came just days before he was to bury his father's remains in a Srebrenica cemetery.

Some 600 bodies exhumed from mass graves around the town in the past year have been identified using DNA tests, and they will be interred on Monday as part of commemorations for the 16th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War II.

"I am very happy, finally," Mr 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 General Ratko Mladic invaded Srebrenica in what was to become the bloody climax to the 1992-95 Bosnian war that claimed 100,000 lives.

The outnumbered Dutch peacekeepers eventually gave in to pressure from Mladic's troops, forcing thousands of Muslim families out of the compound.

Bosnian Serb forces then sorted the Muslims by gender, taking the males away and executing some 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

In 2010, the same appeals court dismissed a class action suit filed by victims' families who belong to a group - The Mothers Of Srebrenica - ruling that UN peacekeepers had immunity from prosecution, as laid down in the UN charter.

But the latest ruling said that despite the fact the Dutch soldiers were operating under a UN mandate, in the confusion of the moment they were under the "effective control" of Dutch military and government officials in The Hague when they ordered the men out of the compound.

The three men were among the last to leave, and, the ruling said, the peacekeepers had already seen Bosnian Serb troops abusing Muslim men and boys and should have known what was in store for the men.