The BNP Paribas group is suspected of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan. This week, the victims of abuses by former President Omar el-Bashir’s regime of French justice were heard. A judicial inquiry was launched in Paris two years ago, following a complaint from nine Sudanese; Complaints are supported by FIDH and LDH. For three days, these victims told their stories and the persecution they suffered during the war in Darfur.
There are four who have been heard this week by judges at the Paris Court. Among them: Omar, in his forties, originally from Darfur. This activist says he has been threatened, harassed and arrested almost ten times.
I was arrested and tortured by the Sudanese intelligence and security services. They targeted me because of my work, I helped people in Darfur who suffer from this service. After this last arrest in 2009, I felt that I was no longer safe in my country; and I went
At the time, BNP Paribas was doing business with the Sudanese regime while under embargo.
For Me Clémence Bectarte, who initiated the investigation by serving as the central bank of the Sudanese regime, the French group was complicit in the crimes committed.
The Sudanese authorities would not normally have been able to access the dollar market, sell oil on the international market, acquire weapons, have cash to buy weapons … So it is important today to ask this question – it is the responsibility of companies
Omar now lives in exile. He hopes that this inquiry will succeed, that it will serve as an example for all these multinational companies and banks that support dictatorships. FIDH and LDH emphasize that for the first time a bank can be held criminally liable.
In 2014, BNP Paribas pleaded guilty in the United States to violating the US embargo on Sudan, Cuba and Iran, and paid a record $ 8.9 billion in fines.
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