A court docket within the Netherlands orders the nation to compensate households of the 20 victims killed within the air strike.
A court docket within the Netherlands has dominated {that a} 2007 bombing of a residential compound in Afghanistan by Dutch forces was illegal, and it ordered the nation to pay compensation to the victims’ households.
The District Court docket of The Hague on Wednesday discovered that the nighttime assault that killed about 20 civilians violated worldwide humanitarian regulation.
On June 17, 2007, Dutch F-16 fighter jets dropped 28 guided bombs within the central Afghan province of Uruzgan. Eighteen of them landed on walled compounds close to the strategic city of Chora.
Dutch forces have been a part of the United States-led coalition that intervened in Afghanistan within the wake of 2001’s lethal 9/11 suicide hijackings of passenger planes. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have been accused of harbouring al-Qaeda, which was blamed for the assaults within the US.
The Dutch Ministry of Defence had requested prosecutors nearly two years in the past to look into the Uruzgan bombing after a report by a conflict veteran questioned its legitimacy.
The ministry had argued the buildings have been being utilized by Taliban fighters when the navy hit the compound. The court docket on Wednesday discovered in any other case.
“The Netherlands was liable for the shelling of the homes,” it stated in an announcement. “It was recognized these homes have been inhabited by civilians. The State invoked the actual fact the Taliban used the homes for navy functions … and thus that the bombing was not illegal.”
“However the court docket guidelines that the State hasn’t sufficiently made clear on what foundation it got here to the conclusion that these homes have been being utilized by the Taliban; … due to this fact, the bombing is prohibited,” it dominated.
The court docket sided with 4 survivors of the assault who introduced a civil go well with in opposition to the Dutch state for compensation. They weren’t named in court docket paperwork.
The victims included the spouse, two daughters, three sons and a daughter-in-law of one of many claimants, court docket papers stated.
Dutch authorities legal professionals argued that the Taliban used the compound for navy functions and, though civilians lived there, the assault was justified.
However judges stated there had been no firing across the compound for a minimum of 15 hours earlier than the bombing.
“The newest data was already 15 hours outdated,” the claimants’ lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld advised the AFP information company.
“The intelligence isn’t of a nature wherein one may say, ‘Properly, sure please, go forward with seven bombs,’” the lawyer stated.
Judges additionally dominated on Wednesday that victims ought to be compensated however quantities could be decided at a later stage.
The Dutch defence ministry stated it will research the decision.