“This is a historic verdict! The responsibility of the Netherlands for genocide in Srebrenica was determined,” said Mostar lawyer Semir Guzin, a member of the international team of attorneys who represents Srebrenica before the court in the Netherlands.
The District Court in The Hague partially accepted the lawsuit of 8,000 citizens of Srebrenica against the Netherlands. Srebrenica associations are suing this state because the Dutch battalion failed to protect victims in the UN protected area in 1995.
“The lawsuit is partly accepted. The court divided victims into three categories. We got justice for one group. It is a group of between 300 and 500 men who were inside the UN base in Potocari, however for others, those who were around the base as well as for men who are departed to the forest from the city of Srebrenica, the court rejected lawsuit arguing that the state of the Netherlands is not responsible for their deaths,” said the lawyer Guzin right after leaving the courtroom.
Asked whether the responsibility of the Netherlands was determined for genocide, Guzin said:
“Yes, absolutely! This is a historic verdict.”
Guzin also added that this is the first step towards justice for Srebrenica.
“This was unthinkable only a few years ago. We will continue to fight. We will make an appeal on the part of the judgment that is negative. We still have legal remedies,” said Guzin.
He emphasized that it is extremely important that the Netherlands recognized the responsibility of their country for the genocide.
According to him, “this is no longer an individual case of Hasan Nuhanovic”, but also of other citizens of Srebrenica.
“It is around 500 people. It does not matter how many people there is, it is important that the responsibility of the Netherlands for genocide in Srebrenica in a civil legal sense was determined,” said Guzin.
After the final verdict is expected that the court ordered the Netherlands State to pay compensations to Srebrenica residents. It will be necessary for the verdict to be final, probably a year or two.
(Source: Faruk Vele/Klix.ba)
