Court rejects Kosovo bombing damages

19 December 2003

BONN – A German court Wednesday rejected a claim for around a million euros in damages by a group of Serb victims of a NATO bombing raid in Kosovo.

The group of 35 from Serbia-Montenegro had sued the German government as a representative of NATO for the bombing in which 10 civilians were killed and 17 seriously injured.

Bonn district court ruled neither international nor German law could support a war damages claim by individual persons against another state. Lawyers for the group said they would appeal.

The group comprised families of the victims and injured victims of the bombardment by NATO aircraft of a bridge in the Serbian town of Varvarin in May 1999 during the war in Kosovo.