The Netherlands is not responsible for the death of Bosnian electrician Rizo Mustafic and the family of UN interpreter Hasan Nuhanovic during the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, a court in The Hague ruled on Wednesday. The court sided with the Dutch State, which claims that not the Netherlands but the United Nations are responsible for Dutchbat's actions.
The case of Nuhanovic and the family of Mustafic, an electrician in the Dutch battalion of the UN Protection Force who died in Srebrenica, were the first civilian cases to come before the court in connection with the Srebrenica massacre on 11 July 1995.
Hasan Nuhanovic's father, mother and younger brother were killed after they had been expelled from a Dutch military base in Srebrenica. He himself was allowed to remain inside the base because he had a UN identity card. Mustafic's family sued the Dutch state in a separate case.
Both plaintiffs alleged that the government failed to protect their families and other civilians, many of whom were refugees who had been relocated to the Srebrenica "safe area". Their lawyers argue that the Dutch government failed in its duty to protect the civilians and violated their human rights.
The Dutch government argued that even if wrong decisions had been made, the UN would be liable for the victims' deaths because it had operational command and control over the Dutch battalion.
"None of the points we presented as evidence to the court over the last six years has been accepted. They have all been rejected. This is a total denial of all accusations presented by the two families,"Nuhanovic said after the verdict was read out.
"The forcible expulsion of refugees from the compound is not mentioned in the verdict at all." Nuhanovic and Mustafic's family's lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld recalled the fact that the two judges in the case were replaced only two months ago. "The doubts we had at the time about whether to go on or not, have now been justified," she said.
Passivity
"I have repeated thousands of times that I am not here to blame Dutchbat for their passivity," Nuhanovic said.
No feelings
Asked how he feels about the verdict, Nuhanovic replied he had no feelings.
Nuhanovic has announced he will take the case to a higher court.