Historic trial against Lundin begins
Tuesday marks a historic day as the trial against former Lundin Oil executives Ian Lundin and Alex Schneiter, accused of complicity in war crimes, begins. The trial is set to last for more than two years and represents the first time anybody is tried in court for involvement in war crimes committed during the civil war in Sudan. Hopefully, the trial sends a clear message to international corporations operating in conflict-sensitive contexts to respect human rights in their operations.
Between 1997 and 2003, Lundin Oil (today Orrön Energy) prospected for oil in southern Sudan, at the time torn by a brutal civil war. To prevent the war from disrupting the country’s important oil extraction, Sudan’s government engaged in a military campaign to clear the oil fields of civilians, resulting in severe and widespread violations of human rights.
Several years later, in 2010, the report Unpaid Debt by the European Coalition for Oil in Sudan (ECOS) highlighted the role of the company in the war – claiming that Lundin Oil’s operations set off a spiral of violence as the Sudanese government attempted to control the oil fields by force. According to ECOS, 12,000 people died as a result of the war in Lundin’s concession area while 160,000 people were forcibly displaced.
Lundin Oil’s operations in Sudan are also described in Swedwatch’s report Fuel for conflict, which pays particular focus on the responsibility of institutional banks that remained invested in Lundin during this period.
Following the ECOS report, Swedish prosecutors initiated a criminal investigation into the activities of Lundin Oil in 2010. In 2021, chairman Ian H Lundin and CEO Alexandre Schneiter were indicted for complicity in grave crimes committed by the Sudanese military and its allied militias, with the purpose of securing the company’s oil operations in southern Sudan.
The hearing, opening 5th of September in the Stockholm District Court, is scheduled for 220 court days and will continue for approximately two and a half years, making it the longest trial in Swedish history. The 34 plaintiffs were all affected by the war in the concession area, and the witness list contains several well-known profiles, including previous Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, former German interior minister Gerhard Baum, the historian Douglas Johnson and CEO for Africa Oil Corp, Keith Hill.
Justice and remedy for all
The plaintiffs ask for a total reparation of 110 million SEK, to be paid by Ian H Lundin and Alexandre Schneiter, to compensate for their pain and suffering. However, while a possible conviction might lead to compensation for the plaintiffs, thousands of people who still live with the consequences of the civil war are at risk of remaining uncompensated, and their chances of remediation further diminished when Lundin Energy in 2022 sold its main assets to Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP.
In the same year, Swedwatch and seven other NGO’s filed a complaint to the Norwegian National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, arguing that Aker did not perform any analysis on how the merger would affect those impacted by Lundin’s operations during the civil war, or their chances of receiving remedy. The complaint was accepted by the NCP and the parties were invited for mediation. However, the initial dialogue did not result in an agreement and NCP will now itself examine the complaint and clarify what proper human rights due diligence looks like in these contexts.
Download reports
Swedwatch 2017
ECOS 2010
The importance of Lundin trial
1️⃣ For decades, victims of the oil war in Sudan have been denied having their cases heard. This is the first time someone is brought to justice for having an alleged role in the crimes committed during the war.
2️⃣ It is extremely rare that company representatives are prosecuted for complicity in gross and systematic human rights violations. The most well-known case being the company officials indicted for war crimes at the 1949 Nuremberg trials.
3️⃣ The trial sends a clear signal to international corporations operating in conflict-sensitive contexts to act firmly on their responsibility to respect human rights, or risk facing litigation.
This is another conversation we will need to have (…) about the responsibility of investors when it comes to human rights. /Olof Björnsson, Swedwatch, author of ‘Fuel for Conflict’ 👇🏼
More from Swedwatch on the topic:
Press release on the Lundin trial
Article Lundin Petroliums ägare bör verka för gottgörelse (in Swedish)
Article Complaints that Aker BP and Aker ASA did not adhere to the OECD Guidelines accepted by the NCP
Article Blood oil: The role of the past investors in delivering access to justice
