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Hague court orders Dutch state to pay out over colonial massacres
Indonesian man forced to watch his father’s execution is among those who will get compensation
Oliver Milman and Emily Holden
Fri 27 Mar 2020 10.53 EDT
An Indonesian man forced to watch his father’s summary execution by a Dutch soldier when he was 10 years old has spoken of his gratitude after a court in The Hague ordered the Dutch state to pay compensation to victims of colonial massacres in the 1940s.
Andi Monji, 83, who travelled to the Netherlands to tell his story to the court, was awarded €10,000 (£9,000) while eight widows and three children of other executed men, mainly farmers, were awarded compensation of between €123.48 and €3,634 for loss of income.
The cases concerned men killed by soldiers in the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi between December 1946 and April 1947 during so-called “cleansing actions” as the Dutch sought to repress moves towards independence.
. . .
Monji, who still lives in Suppa, said: “I’m grateful for the court’s ruling. I was 10 years old when I was forced to witness my father being executed by Dutch military after first being heavily beaten. I was crying.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/hague-court-orders-dutch-state-to-pay-out-over-colonial-massacres
