"Multinational Lafarge and four former executives to stand trial for financing of terrorism in Syria" 16 October 2024

This Wednesday the 16th of October, French investigating judges ordered Lafarge SA and four former executives to stand trial before the French criminal court for financing a terrorist organisation and violating an embargo. The human rights organisations Sherpa and ECCHR, plaintiffs in this case, welcome this significant development after eight years of legal proceedings. However, the prospect of this trial should not overshadow a critical aspect of this case, as the company remains charged for complicity in crimes against humanity committed by armed groups.

After news reports revealed Lafarge’s dealings in Syria, Sherpa, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and 11 former Syrian employees of Lafarge filed a complaint in France in November 2016 against Lafarge, its Syrian subsidiary and several executives. The French cement giant is accused of complicity in crimes against humanity via the financing of several armed groups in Syria – including the Islamic State – to continue operating its cement plant despite the conflict and serious risks to its employees. This led to the opening of a judicial investigation and to the indictment of Lafarge and several of its executives.

...Lafarge and four former executives of the parent company and Syrian subsidiary have been ordered to stand trial before a criminal court for financing a terrorist enterprise and violating a European embargo prohibiting all financial or commercial relations with the organisations al-Nosra and Islamic State...

Lafarge is the first company in the world to have been charged with complicity in crimes against humanity. As the French Supreme Court declared in this case, it is the multiplication of acts of complicity that enables crimes against humanity – considered “the most serious of crimes”. Acts of complicity cannot therefore go unpunished.

The judicial investigation shows that Syrian workers faced many threats, including risks of injury, kidnapping, and death. Despite this evidence, last January the French Supreme Court dismissed Lafarge’s indictment for endangering the lives of its Syrian workers...