Amesys case brought before French justice
Seven months after the complaint filed by FIDH and LDH, a judicial investigation has been opened within the Paris TGI Court (Tribunal de Grande Instance) for complicity in acts of torture in Libya aiming at establishing the role of the engineering company Amesys, a subsidiary of the French firm Bull. The judicial inquiry is being made by a new unit specialising in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide at the Paris TGI.
Amesys is accused of selling the Libyan government surveillance equipment that provided the technology necessary for the regime to identify, arrest and then torture political opponents.
This judicial inquiry should make it possible to determine the exact role played by Amesys and its leadership in Libyan torture, and more generally, to revisit the question of the criminal responsibility of companies in human rights violations.
In a press release dated September 2011, Amesys explained that it had indeed signed a contract with Libya under Qaddafi “in an international context linked to diplomatic rapprochement”. Amesys, a subsidiary of Bull, is now officially in the justice system’s line of fire. FIDH wishes this case to set an example that will make businesses shoulder their responsibility to respect human rights.
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