Court rejects Serbians' claim for damages (NATO wins lawsuit for Kosovo war)

Deutsche Welle ^ | 12/08/2003

[Michael81Dus]

A court in Bonn has rejected a claim by a group of Serbians seeking damages stemming from an incident in the 1999 Kosovo war. Ten civilians were killed and 17 others seriously wounded in the attack on a bridge in the southern-Serbian town of Varvarin. The 35 Serbians who brought the case were either injured or lost loved ones in the attack.

They were seeking one million euros in damages from the German government, representing all NATO-members. They argued that the German government was directly or indirectly responsible for the air strike, because it took part in the NATO military action. Lawyers representing the government argued that German air force jets had not been involved in the strike.

[Michael81Dus]

You remember "Patriotic Cowboy" pinging all of us and himself thousands of times two months ago? Now, this is my PING to you.

The Serbian families lost... of course.

[Prodigal Son]

Patriotic Cowboy got himself banned. Then came back twice under different names- to be banned again. His most recent incarnation was as "Liberty Sailor".

[mark502inf]

Michael, the story says that the government lawyers "argued that German air force jets had not been involved in the strike," but the story does not make clear the rationale for the court rejecting the lawsuit. Was it because of lack of direct German involvement or some other reason? Or do you know? Figured since you are German, you might have the whole story.

[Michael81Dus]

That´s the whole story written by Deutsche Welle. The court holds, that there´s no legal entitlement to claim damages from a state because of military actions against another state - neither in German nor in international law. This was a precedent in Germany, we were never sued for damages because of war before.

[Michael81Dus]

LOL, I knew that he was banned, but I didn´t know that he was coming back!