Corporations face the rising tide of justice

Special focus 42 publications
It is talked about for every war; it is revealed after every dictatorship; it is even more debated in the face of the destruction of the planet and climate change: the responsibility of businesses in international crimes is both regularly denounced and totally absent from international criminal justice since Nuremberg. Yet, at the national level, precedents exist, more and more complaints and prosecutions are being filed and high profile cases are being opened. Why have economic actors been so protected from criminal prosecution for their direct or indirect contribution to mass crimes? Should and can this protection be altered?
© Claire Braud pour JusticeInfo.net
Illustration mettant en scène des hommes et femmes d'affaire flottant sur un océan déchaîné. Certains semblent confiants et d'autres paniquent. Au fond, un radeau flotte transportant un magistrat en robe (mat symolisant la balance de la justice).
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Threats and intimidation at the Lundin trial in Sweden. Photo: George Tai, a witness, tells his story in Juba (Southern Sudan).
Threats and intimidation in the Lundin trial
3 April 2025 by Martin Schibbye
Witnesses in the trial of former Lundin Oil executives are alleged to have been the victims of a campaign of threats, intimidation and bribes. New revelations have reopened an investigation into obstruction of justice.
Alexandre Schneiter, former CEO of Lundin Oil, gives his side of the story at his trial in Sweden on charges of complicity in war crimes committed in Sudan. Photo: Schneiter in a video interview for Bloomberg. “I was responsible for what was beneath the surface – not above”
24 March 2025 by Martin Schibbye
At the trial in Sweden of the former executives of Lundin Oil on charges of complicity in war crimes, ex-CEO Alexandre Schneiter explained that he was responsible for drilling, not for security or operational activities.
A Swedish documentary film shows Ian Lundin in Sudan surrounded by armed child soldiers. The footage was used in the trial of Swedish company Lundin Oil in Sweden. How Lundin’s filmed trip in Sudan backfired in court
6 February 2025 by Martin Schibbye
This Tuesday February 4, Alexandre Schneiter’s interrogation has started in Stockholm, where two former directors of the Swedish oil company Lundin are tried for complicity in war crimes in Sudan. Before him, until last week, his [...]
Ian Lundin, former chairman of the Swedish oil company Lundin Oil, speaks to the press during his trial in Sweden for alleged complicity in war crimes commited in Sudan. Ian Lundin finally speaks
10 January 2025 by Olivier Truc
In a Stockholm trial that started in September 2023, two directors of Swedish oil company Lundin Oil are charged with complicity in war crimes committed in Sudan between 1997 and 2003. Answering questions, company chairman Ian Lun [...]
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Lundin trial in Sweden - Photo: the defendants and their defence team wait in a corridor near courtroom 34.
1 October 2024 by Olivier Truc
Lundin trial: “How can they believe those reports?” Now the voice of South Sudanese victims is being heard in the big Swedish trial for complicity in war crimes that opened a year ago against two top bosses of the Lundin oil group. The parade of 32 witnesses, which began at the end [...]
Chiquita trial - Photo: a promotional stand featuring only Chiquita bananas. At the very top, the brand's mascot. At the front of the booth, a large button and a sign reading “Push to start the show”.
13 September 2024 by Tatiana Devia + Daniel Marin Lopez
Lessons from the Chiquita Trial (2): The Battle of Experts Analysing the trial of Chiquita, a multinational banana company that was ordered by a U.S. court to pay 38 million dollars in compensation for victims of the paramilitary in Colombia, lawyers Tatiana Devia and Daniel Marín López h [...]
Chiquita trial in Florida - Photo: an employee of banana multinational Chiquita works in a factory in Colombia (Uruba).
12 September 2024 by Tatiana Devia + Daniel Marin Lopez
Insights from the Chiquita trial (1): 25 years of struggle A Florida jury delivered a ruling in the Chiquita trial, holding the multinational banana company liable for 38 million dollars in compensation for victims of the paramilitary in Colombia. After more than 25 years of struggle and [...]
Will the Drummond case be referred to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP) in Colombia? Photo: Construction machinery at work in a coal mine.
2 July 2024 by Andrés Bermúdez Liévano
The Drummond case, a corporate litmus test for Colombia’s transitional justice Colombian transitional justice’s range of action over civilians allegedly involved in serious crimes during the internal conflict is quite legally limited. But one case could strike out: the case against two top executives of Drum [...]
A criminal complaint has been filed against Booking.com for money laundering in connection with war crimes. Photo: an accommodation offered by Booking.com on which is written “Booking.occupiedterritories”.
23 May 2024 by Tjitske Lingsma
Is Booking.com profiting from war crimes in Palestine? On May 23, a collective of European and Palestinian NGOs made public a criminal complaint against Booking.com in The Netherlands. They accuse the company of money laundering in connection to war crimes, as the enterprise profits f [...]
Martin Schibbye is a journalist, one of the few covering the Lundin trial in Sweden. Photo: Schibbye stands alone at the entrance to courtroom 34 in Stockholm.
15 March 2024 by Olivier Truc
Martin Schibbye (journalist): “Sweden believed in Lundin” Six months have passed since the start of the longest trial in Swedish history, which will last another two years. Time for a first assessment by one of its most assiduous observers, Martin Schibbye, who spent 438 days of his life [...]
Alex Schneiter and Ian Lundin are on trial in Sweden for alleged complicity in war crimes in Sudan. Their lawyers are seeking to undermine the prosecution's case (sources and investigation). Courtroom drawing.
27 February 2024 by Olivier Truc
Lundin trial: defence attacks prosecution probe It's the turn of lawyers for the second defendant, Swiss citizen Alexandre Schneiter, to present their arguments in the Lundin trial in Sweden. The defence of the former oil company CEO, prosecuted as an accessory to war crimes, c [...]
Lafarge
26 January 2024 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
The good and the bad about Lafarge case There is the Lundin trial going on in Sweden. And there is the Lafarge case slowly moving forward in France. These are arguably the two most high-profile trials for alleged international crimes by prominent corporations and/or cor [...]
Total Energies oil project in Uganda - Environmental activists demonstrate in Kampala against EACOP.
15 December 2023 by Grace Matsiko
Total Uganda: 42 families expropriated in a summary trial While the Cop28 negotiations were taking place in the sumptuous halls of Dubai, no less than 42 families from Uganda's oil-rich regions were expropriated from their homes on a Friday afternoon, in an expeditious court hearing. To [...]
Banks and climate justice - Financiers are now in the sights of NGOs seeking to prove their involvement in global warming.
12 December 2023 by Benjamin Bibas
Banks, the new targets of climate action COP28 ended in Dubai on Tuesday December 12 without any credible promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, there are more and more scientific reports describing the humanitarian consequences of climate change. NGOs are [...]
Lundin trial in Sweden - Ian Lundin arrives in court on the opening day of the trial in Stockholm. He is suspected of complicity in war crimes in Southern Sudan.
8 December 2023 by Olivier Truc
Lundin, the trial that “should never have taken place” The Lundin trial has now reached the end of its thirteenth week, with 90 weeks still to go. Torgny Wetterberg, defending Ian Lundin, on November 29 began his presentation of the facts. His client is one of the two directors of Swe [...]
Magnus Elving is the Swedish prosecutor who prosecuted the Lundin multinational for complicity in war crimes in South Sudan.
10 October 2023 by Olivier Truc
The Swedish prosecutor who challenged Lundin Oil It was prosecutor Magnus Elving who opened the probe into Swedish oil company Lundin, accused of complicity in war crimes in southern Sudan. He is now retired and following from a distance the trial that opened in Stockholm on Sep [...]
Lundin - The trial in Sweden is scheduled to last until 2026.
21 September 2023 by Olivier Truc
Lundin: serious, intimate, Sweden's longest trial sets up for the long haul A sparse audience settled in to listen to prosecutors accuse - over 22 days - two big business bosses, in a trial due to end on February 19, 2026. On the seventh day, the prosecutor showed reports in the Stockholm courthouse of po [...]
The Lundin trial could worry multinationals - Bubbles in an oil puddle in Sudan.
5 September 2023 by Thierry Cruvellier
Lundin trial: "a strong signal to business" Two top executives of a Western oil company are going on trial for complicity in war crimes. The start of the Lundin trial in Sweden on September 5 moves criminal responsibility for bosses of multinationals "from a theoretical rea [...]
Lundin trial in Sweden: when oil and war crimes mix in Sudan.
4 September 2023 by Lena Bjurström
Oil and war crimes in Sudan: Lundin trial opens in Sweden The long-awaited trial of two former executives of Swedish oil company Lundin begins in Stockholm on September 5. Alex Schneiter and Ian Lundin are charged with complicity in war crimes committed over 20 years ago in what is now S [...]
Oil pump
1 September 2023 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
The Lundin moment Sweden is putting on trial two former chief executives of the oil company Lundin for their alleged complicity in war crimes in Sudan. Facts date back to more than 20 years when the Swedish oil company secured a production site and [...]
Climate Justice Activist Demonstrates Against Total Energies Project in Uganda
6 April 2023 by Mathilde Hautereau-Boutonnet
Climate trials: What to make of multinationals’ string of victories? After the two recent victories in France and Germany of Total Energies and Volkswagen, the author of this Opinion wonders if it is really useful for environmental NGOs and climate justice activists to sue multinationals.
Climate change - Thick black smoke billows from an oil refinery. A plane flies in the sky.
24 November 2022 by Benjamin Bibas
Climate justice: Pressure is mounting on fossil fuel producers Climate complaints against States have led to much reflection on legal responsibilities, although COP27 that ended in Egypt on November 20 was silent on this. Responsibilities lead downstream to fossil fuel companies, on whom pres [...]
Climate justice - A camel in a desert in Saudi Arabia. In the background, an oil facility of the oil giant Saudi Aramco.
4 November 2022 by Benjamin Bibas
Redefining climate justice COP27 is being held from November 6 to 18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, but the logic of "climate justice" that has prevailed until now – a solidarity obligation of developed States to those of the South – hardly works any longer. Th [...]
In Cambodia, a farmer cuts sugar cane
25 October 2022 by Christine Chaumeau
Cambodian villagers challenge sugar giant in Thai court Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol, accused of forced displacement, property destruction and land grabbing, is being sued by Cambodian villagers in a class action suit before the Thai courts. This is a David and Goliath battle that is als [...]
Frederick Flick (owner of the Flick company) stands during his sentencing at the Nuremberg trial in Germany.
12 September 2022 by Clémentine Méténier
In Nuremberg, “we started to judge company executives and managers” Historian and sociologist Guillaume Mouralis, who works on the history of legal practices in post-conflict situations, looks back at the pivotal moment of the Nuremberg Trials, which judged corporate executives at the end of the S [...]
In the foreground, a boat and inhabitants. In the background, a shovel.
26 August 2022 by Robert Odongo
Uganda: Meeting farmers fighting for justice against Total In the western part of Uganda, about 100,000 people are displaced by a huge oil project mainly run by the French giant Total Energies. The area has been placed under a blanket lockdown by the government. And Total is now subject t [...]
Portrait of Leigh Payne (drawing) by Benoit Peyrucq
12 July 2022 by Clémentine Méténier
Leigh Payne: Why Latin America is leading the way on corporate accountability JUSTICE INFO IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS Leigh Payne Latin America has been a hotbed of attempts to hold business accountable for serious human rights violations. Oxford sociology professor Leigh Payne has been working on the topic for de [...]
3D image illustrating the construction project of the Paris court (office buildings). In the foreground, the logos of several companies (Lafarge, BNP Paribas, Uniqlo, Amesys and Castel group) are embedded in bubbles.
5 July 2022 by Lena Bjurström
Lafarge and the judicial twists and turns of corporate liability in France Since 2016, the Lafarge case seems to have been stretched out over the years and the appeals. But its many twists and turns raise questions about complicity in crimes against humanity, the place of a company as a defendant and the [...]
A patrol of Senegalese soldiers in the forest of Casamance (Blaze Forest)
27 June 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe
Swiss first step to investigate environmental crimes in Gambia Three years ago, the Swiss NGO TRIAL International filed a complaint against a Swiss businessman operating in the Gambia with the complicity of its former president Yahya Jammeh. The Swiss national is accused of having committed a [...]
Illustration (double portrait) by Joanna Kyriakakis and Mark Drumbl
21 June 2022 by Thierry Cruvellier and Clémentine Méténier
“No one really wants corporations to be liable” JUSTICE INFO IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS Joanna Kyriakakis & Mark Drumbl Why international courts have been so impotent at prosecuting businessmen? Why international law has shielded companies from responsibility in atrocity crimes? W [...]
A scale whose weight tilts to one side (multiple logos of multinationals: Total, Ericsson, Lundin, Exxon Mobil, Lafarge). On the other side, the text
20 June 2022 by Clémentine Méténier
Business and human rights: the pressure is mounting   There are a growing number of criminal proceedings aimed at holding multinational companies accountable for their direct or indirect role in international crimes or serious human rights violations. These include complicity in war [...]
Masked protesters (Shell logo) raise their fists and hold up
24 March 2022 by Janet H. Anderson
The unresolved responsibility of Big Oil companies in Nigeria On March 23 a Dutch court ruled that it was impossible to hold the oil company Shell liable for the 1995 trial and execution of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his fellow Ogoni community leaders. The ‘Ogoni 9’ case has [...]
A soldier stands guard outside an oil refinery
29 November 2021 by Lena Bjurström
Oil and war crimes: Swedish justice in the front line On November 11, the president and former director of the Lundin Energy company were indicted for complicity in war crimes. The charges relate to attacks carried out against civilians between 1999 and 2003 in an area of the future [...]
30 November 2020 by Maud Sarliève
Corporate responsibility: Switzerland says no but the UN must say yes The Swiss rejected legislation requiring multinationals to be responsible, at home and abroad, for environmental and human rights abuses related to their activities. As Maud Sarliève explains, Switzerland is thus moving away from [...]
27 November 2020 by Julia Crawford
World watches as Swiss vote on “responsible business” On November 29 the Swiss vote on a proposal that would make Swiss-based multinationals accountable for environmental crimes and human rights abuses in relation to their activities abroad. Here is how to understand an initiative th [...]
9 November 2020 by Maud Sarliève
Multinationals and human rights: do states understand the urgency of a treaty? Compel multinationals to respect human rights: a draft international treaty, sponsored by the United Nations, has been under discussion for the last six years. The sixth round of negotiations ended on October 30th and there is no [...]
6 October 2020 by Thierry Ogier
In Brazil, it’s reparation time for Volkswagen During the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985), Volkswagen denounced several trade unionists and communist militants who were then arrested and tortured by security agents. Following an out-of-court agreement between victi [...]
12 December 2019 by Christophe Koessler
Draft treaty on multinationals and human rights struggles Encouraged by the United Nations, States in October resumed talks started five years ago for an international treaty that would oblige multinationals to respect human rights. The project is still under way, even if it is strugglin [...]
5 December 2019 by Maud Sarliève
Climate change: How to make corporations responsible? ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE SERIES (3/3) This week, the 25th Conference of Parties, or “COP25”, begins in Madrid. Until December 13th, the 196 State Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be discussing [...]
15 November 2019 by Julia Crawford
Corporate responsibility in war crimes, a new legal battlefield NGOs suffered a big setback last week when a French court dismissed a charge against Lafarge of complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria. But they are increasingly active in trying to get companies and businessmen prosecuted [...]
14 March 2019 by Maud Sarliève
Ecuador: toxic justice and tourism by Texaco waste pools Between 2011 and 2018, the highest courts in Ecuador found the oil company Chevron-Texaco responsible for the massive pollution of the Lago Agrio region, destroying much of the life of the local communities. A Permanent court of a [...]
Lundin
26 October 2018 by Julia Crawford
Lundin faces prosecution for Sudan oil war abuses Sweden’s government has given the green light for the Public Prosecutor to charge two top executives of the Stockholm-based Lundin Petroleum company for assisting suspected crimes against humanity in Sudan between 1997 and 2003 by [...]