The Dutch State pays 20,000 euros (about 27,600 U.S. dollars) per person compensation to relatives of three Bosnians who were ordered away from the base of Dutchbat in Srebrenica in 1995, said the Dutch Ministry of Defense on Thursday.

On Sept. 6 last year the Supreme Court decided that the Dutch State was liable for the damage suffered by four survivors of the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995.

Despite the presence of the Dutch UN peacekeeping battalion Dutchbat in Srebrenica, which was designated as a "safe area" by the UN, the enclave fell to the Bosnian Serb army (VRS) during the Bosnian war. In the following massacre over 7,000 Muslim men and boys were killed.

Hasan Nuhanovic, at that time an interpreter for Dutchbat, and relatives of Rizo Mustafic, a former electrician of Dutchbat, filed a case against the Dutch State.

In July 1995 Dutch soldiers handed Mustafic and the brother and father of Nuhanovic to the Bosnian Serbs, who later killed them. The four survivors claim the Dutch should have known that their relatives would be killed.

After years of legal proceedings the Supreme Court acknowledged the liability of the Dutch State last year. Under Bosnian law the relatives were also entitled to be compensated for non-material damages, but according to Dutch law they did not have that right. The Supreme Court ruled that in this case Bosnian law should be applied.

Therefore the Dutch State now announced to pay the compensation of four times 20,000 euros. The amount of the fee is according to the Dutch State equal to what is usual in such cases in Bosnia. If the relatives find that the fee is too low, they can still start a new procedure.

"Any material damage will also be reimbursed by the State," Klaas Meijer, spokesperson at the Dutch Ministry of Defense, told Xinhua.

"The State regrets what happened to the families of Nuhanovic and Mustafic in 1995 and hopes that the compensation payment will be a further step in the processing of their loss."

However, lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld of the relatives was disappointed.

"This amount does not show respect," she said to Dutch broadcaster NOS, adding "The compensation that they get now, is not even sufficient to cover the costs. Of all legal proceedings I do not know whether the relatives start a new procedure. They should handle this blow first." Endi

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