"This court finds that the (Dutch) state acted wrongly through these executions and that the state is liable to pay damages in terms of the law," judge Daphne Schreuder said in The Hague on Wednesday.

Eight widows and one survivor from the town of Rawagedeh east of Jakarta took the Dutch state to court in 2008 to claim compensation for the execution of men and boys on December 9, 1947 by Dutch colonial troops.

A three-judge bench of The Hague civil court ruled that seven of the eight widows claiming compensation should receive it, while the family of a survivor of the massacre should also be compensated.

The eighth widow had died before the court papers were formally lodged in 2008, Schreuder said.

A hearing to determine the exact amount to be paid would be the next step, the group's delighted lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld said.

The Netherlands has in the past admitted that the execution did indeed take place, but argued that no claim could be lodged because of an expiry in the statute of limitations in Dutch law of five years.

AFP