Update from the Court: Testimonies of War Crimes and Attempts to Discredit Witnesses
The trial continues to unfold in Stockholm, where from May 28th to September 26th, 2024, 14 out of 32 South Sudanese plaintiffs testified in court. Each plaintiff recounted how their lives were upended starting 1998, the year Lundin entered South Sudan, sharing their harrowing experiences about Government forces and allied militias attacking villages, looting, burning homes, stealing livestock, and killing civilians indiscriminately. They all described the systematic targeting of civilians, massive destruction, the forced displacement from their homes, and the loss of loved ones, prompting multiple court recesses when plaintiffs became overwhelmed with grief. Together, their accounts painted a coherent and compelling picture of destruction, cruelty, and systematic war crimes…
The defence lawyers did not directly contest the essence of the testimonies but instead seized upon purported inconsistencies with statements that plaintiffs had made in earlier police interviews…
The defence’s meticulous search for discrepancies in testimonies seemed random and did not resemble a purposeful attempt to refute key components of the indictment, such as the descriptions of the five military offensives by the Government and allied militias…
The testimonies provided unexpected support for the prosecution. Some plaintiffs who were former employees of Lundin described how the company’s expat staff and security officers supplied militias with money and how they provided fuel, transportation, and communication services to the Sudanese Armed Forces. While the indictment does not explicitly address such direct support, these testimonies show collaboration between Lundin and alleged perpetrators of war crimes, and contradict the defence’s assertions that Lundin was not involved in the war…
The defendant Ian Lundin will testify from 10 to 19 December, followed by Alex Schneiter from 14 to 23 January 2025. The remainder of 2025 has been designated for 56 expert witnesses and witnesses for the defence. The final pleas are scheduled for January and February 2026…