Lafarge: cancellation of prosecutions for “complicity in crimes against humanity” invalidated

Published on : 09/07/2021 – 15:08

The Court of Cassation invalidated, Tuesday, September 7, the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal to annul the indictment of the cement manufacturer Lafarge for “complicity in crimes against humanity” in the investigation of its activities in Syria until 2014.

The highest court of the judicial order also quashed the decision of the court of appeal to maintain the indictment of the group for “endangering the life of others”, and referred these two questions to the chamber of the instruction so that it decides again on it.

Lafarge SA, which merged with the Swiss company Holcim in 2015, is suspected of having paid in 2013 and 2014, via its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), nearly 13 million euros to terrorist groups, including the organization Islamic State (IS), and intermediaries, in order to keep the activity of its site in Jalabiya, in northern Syria, as the country plunged into war.

>> To see: Lafarge trial in Syria, a reminder of the facts

The group is also suspected of selling cement from the factory to ISIS and paying intermediaries to source raw materials from jihadist factions.

The Paris Court of Appeal had invalidated in 2019 the charge of “complicity in crimes against humanity”, considering that there was no “serious or concordant evidence of complicity” of Lafarge in the crimes committed in particular by IS.

In its judgment, the Court of Cassation overturns this decision by arguing that one “can be an accomplice in crimes against humanity even if one does not intend to be associated with the commission of these crimes” .

With AFP