Court: No statute of limitations in Dutch colonial crimes

In a groundbreaking decision, an appeals court in the Netherlands has ruled that the statute of limitations does not apply to allegations of colonial era crimes committed by Dutch forces in what is now Indonesia.

The Hague Court of Appeal issued rulings Tuesday in two cases linked to torture and summary executions by Dutch forces during Indonesia’s struggle for independence after World War II.

Lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, who brought the cases, welcomed the rulings as a “very important decision.”

The court says that the Dutch state cannot rely on the statute of limitations in the case of five men and a woman who say their parents were executed in South Sulawesi, and another case of a man who was tortured while in detention in East Java.

A defense ministry spokesman says the ministry is studying the rulings before deciding its next steps.