A Dutch court will rule this week on whether Royal Dutch Shell was complicit in the death of nine Nigerian anti-oil protesters in the 1990s.

The wives of four of the “Ogoni Nine” executed by Nigeria’s military regime are demanding compensation and a public apology from the oil major over allegations that it was instrumental in the arrests. One of the victims was Ken Saro-Wiwa, the prominent writer and activist. They were hanged in 1995.

A district court in the Hague is expected to rule on Wednesday. Shell has paid the families of protesters $15.5 million, but has never admitted wrongdoing and insists that it pleaded for clemency for the Ogoni Nine.

Shell is Europe’s largest energy company, employing about 80,000 people worldwide. It reported…