The Swedish government has decided to reopen a case against Lundin Energy, where the oil company was accused of human rights violations in Bentiu.
The Project Manager for UNPAID DEBT, a program with PAX International, Egbert Wesselink, told The City Review that the prosecutor had sent the case to court and was optimistic that a “favourable verdict” would be reached to serve justice to the victims.
“The hearing will start probably this year and there are about 150 witnesses that will be heard, and there are 80,000 pages of evidence in the file, which makes it one of the biggest criminal cases in Swedish history.”
Wesselink said the hearings will take about one and a half years and will be completed either in 2023 or early 2024.
“We did not know the sentence that the prosecutor would ask, but he will probably ask for a prison sentence [and] he could even ask for a life [sentence.
“The prosecutor also asked for a penalty of 130 million euros from the company because it will ask the court to declare the entire operation of Lundin criminal enterprise,” he said.
The South Sudan Council of Churches yesterday hailed the decision by the Swedish government to hold Lundin Energy accountable for the crimes committed against the people of Bentiu State in 1997 and 2003.
Andrea Minalla, the representative of the South Sudan Council of Churches, has praised the Swedish government for the move.
“There is no peace without justice, no reconciliation outside the truth, no forgiveness without repentance, and many grievous crimes have been committed against our people in South Sudan and peace remains elusive without justice,” Minalla lamented.
He added that in the 1990s and 2000, Lundin Energy Company had unlawfully displaced more than 1,000 people, many of whom were later killed and their property lost.
He said the church will still stand with the victims of oil exploration from 20 years ago and to date.
He said, “Victims of abuses in the villages and homes around the oil field have the right to access remedy and reoperation.”
Probe begins
According to the Business and Human Rights Resources Centre, factual background stated that the Swedish investigation began after a 2010 report by PAX for the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS) and unpaid debt alleged that members of the Lundin Consortium may have been complicit in the commission of international crimes in Sudan between 1999 and 2003. The Consortium was disbanded in 2003.
The report alleges that operations by the Lundin Consortium sparked a civil war that led to the deaths of thousands of people, the forced displacement of almost 200,000 people, and numerous cases of rape, torture, and abduction. The members of the Lundin Consortium allegedly knew that such crimes were committed, enabled their commission, took no effective action to stop their occurrence, and worked alongside their perpetrators.
It has been alleged, for instance, that Sudanese security staff employed by the consortium reported to national security and army agencies that they committed atrocity crimes. Communities were allegedly violently displaced from areas where the consortium planned to operate.
In November 2018, Alex Schneiter and Ian Lundin received final notice of the preliminary investigation, and the company itself was notified that the Prosecution Authority would impose a corporate fine of SEK 3 million (USD 310,893) and forfeiture of economic benefits of SEK 3,282 million (USD 348,380,550) after a trial. By doing so, the Prosecution Authority indirectly connects the company itself to the war crimes charges against Mr Schneiter and Mr Lundin as natural persons.
Mr Schneiter and Mr Lundin have published two open letters; noting “the suspicions [of criminal misconduct] are based on a biased and wrongful perception of criminal liability for conducting legitimate business activities…” They maintain their innocence and further argue that Lundin is an agent for peace and prosperity in South Sudan.