Former oil firm executives go on trial in Sweden over Sudan war crimes (updated)

Orron Energy AB

05/09/2023 10:35

(Updates with start of trial in 1st paragraph, adds defendant's
reaction in paragraphs 4-5, background in paragraph 6)
    By Anna Ringstrom
       STOCKHOLM, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The former CEO and the
former chairman of a Swedish oil firm went on trial in Sweden on
Tuesday, accused of complicity in war crimes in Sudan between
1999 and 2003 - charges that they both flatly deny.
    Prosecutors say that the former Lundin Oil - which has
changed its name several times and in 2022 sold most of its
business - asked Khartoum to secure a potential oilfield in what
is now South Sudan, knowing that this would mean seizing the
area by force.
    This made the executives complicit in war crimes that were
then carried out by the Sudanese army and allied militia against
civilians, according to the 2021 indictment.
    The company's former chairman Ian Lundin, who is on trial
alongside former CEO Alex Schneiter, said on Tuesday the
accusations made against the pair were false, Swedish news
agency TT reported.
    "We look forward to defending ourselves in court," he told
reporters at the Stockholm district court, according to TT .
    The case is expected to run until early 2026, according to
the court's schedule.
        "What constitutes complicity in a criminal sense is that
they made these demands despite understanding or, in any case
being indifferent to, the military and the militia carrying out
the war in a way that was forbidden according to international
humanitarian law," the prosecution agency said in 2021.
    The company has rejected the allegations, as did Schneiter.
    The prosecution is also asking the court to confiscate 2.4
billion Swedish crowns ($217 million) from the company, now
known as Orron Energy  ORRON.ST , up from an initial claim of
1.4 billion made in 2021.
        The company has said it will contest the claim.
    Sweden launched the probe in 2010 following a report on the
company's presence in Sudan by Dutch non-governmental
organization PAX.
    Sudan waged war for decades in South Sudan, which became
independent in 2011, and elsewhere in the country. Former
president Omar al-Bashir, who ruled between 1989 and 2019, is
wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for
genocide and other war crimes, which he denies.
 ($1 = 11.0760 Swedish crowns)

 (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Terje Solsvik; Editing by
Sandra Maler and Hugh Lawson)
 ((anna.ringstrom@thomsonreuters.com; +46 8 502 423 74))