A trial began Tuesday in Stockholm of two executives of a Swedish oil exploration and manufacturing firm accused of complicity in struggle crimes in Sudan 20 years in the past by securing the corporate’s oil operations within the African nation.
Prosecutors declare that Ian Lundin, former chairman of Lundin Oil, and Alex Schneiter, its former CEO, supported the Sudanese authorities of former dictator Omar al-Bashir.
They stated the 2 executives created “the required situations for the subsidiary’s operations by conducting warfare in a means that entailed the Sudanese navy and regime allied militia systematically attacking civilians or a minimum of finishing up systematic assaults in violation of the ideas of distinction and proportionality.”
From 1983 to 2005, Sudan was torn aside by a civil struggle between the Muslim-dominated north and Christian south. A separate battle in Darfur, the war-scarred area of western Sudan, started in 2003. Hundreds of individuals have been killed and almost 200,000 displaced. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 to turn out to be the world’s youngest nation.
Lundin advised reporters on the Stockholm District Courtroom that the accusations have been “fully false.”
“We look ahead to defending ourselves in courtroom,” he stated.
In a press release, the prosecution stated the 2 held senior positions and “participated within the conclusion of the settlement” involving a proper to seek for and extract oil in a bigger space in southern Sudan “in change for the fee of charges and a share in future earnings.”
Between Could 1999 and March 2003, the Sudanese authorities performed offensive navy operations in Block 5A and its neighborhood to achieve management of areas for oil prospecting and create the required situations for oil extraction, the prosecution stated. Throughout the navy operations, extreme violations of worldwide humanitarian regulation have been dedicated, it stated.
Al-Bashir was toppled in April 2019 in a preferred rebellion.
Lundin was the operator of a consortium of firms exploring Block 5A, together with Malaysia’s Petronas Carigali Abroad, OMV (Sudan) Exploration GmbH of Austria, and the Sudanese state-owned oil firm Sudapet Ltd.
The prosecution needs the executives to be banned from conducting enterprise actions for 10 years and the Swedish firm fined 3 million kronor ($272,250), whereas 1.4 billion kronor ($127 million) ought to be confiscated from Lundin Oil due to financial advantages that have been achieved as a consequence of crimes dedicated as a part of its enterprise actions.
The trial is ready to finish in early 2026. No date for a verdict has been introduced.