Today a trial management meeting will take place at the district court of The Hague in the court cases concerning the post-colonial violence committed by the State of the Netherlands in the former Dutch East-Indies.

Among other things, the court would like to discuss the practical aspects of the pending witness hearings in the case of Mr. Yaseman; Yaseman was tortured by Dutch soldiers in 1947 whilst in captivity. Aside from this, the court also wants to discuss the handling of the dozens of cases initiated by widows and children of summarily executed men; some of those have been ongoing since 2013.

Since 2013, in principle, widows can claim damages on the basis of a Civil Settlement Scheme; the children of summarily executed men however must take their cases to court. Plaintiffs’ lawyers, Liesbeth Zegveld and Brechtje Vossenberg, would like to see that the State also provides an out-of-court avenue for this group of surviving relatives. At the moment, the lawyers are representing dozens of widows and more than 500 children. The Dutch newspaper NRC published two articles on the topic yesterday (in Dutch).

• F. Vermeulen, 'Kabinet debet aan oeverloos gedoe Indonesische claims’ | NRC.nl, 28 May 2017 (also here)
• F. Vermeulen, 'Politieke wil bij Rutte ontbreekt' | NRC.nl, 28 May 2017 (also here)

Previously

• Interview with Liesbeth Zegveld: 'Sympathetic' regulation provides old widows with nothing.
• Extension of Civil Settlement Scheme for damages of Indonesian widows
• Dutch State held liable for torture on Java in 1947
• Netherlands liable for rape of woman in Dutch East-Indies; State must allow investigation in Dutch National Archives
• The Netherlands sued by dozens of children re: post-colonial violence in former Dutch East Indies (1945-1949)