Dutch court to hear case against Shell brought by Nigerian activists' widows

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A Dutch court said on Wednesday it has jurisdiction to hear a damages suit brought against energy company Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of activists executed by the Nigerian government in 1995.

In a preliminary ruling, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, but cautioned that they did not agree with assertions by the widows that Shell should have done more to prevent their husbands' deaths.

The men executed were a group known as the "Ogoni Nine" - activists who had protested against Shell's exploitation of the Niger Delta and who were executed after a trial widely seen as flawed.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Dale Hudson)