21 February 2024. FIDH welcomes news of the acquittal by the District Court of Bern-Mittelland (Switzerland) of the three authors of a report published by the NGOs Public Eye and TRIAL International in 2020 and titled Libyan fuel smuggling: a Swiss trader sailing through troubled waters.
FIDH is one of the several organisations in the CASE coalition and Corporate Crimes Network signing a statement on the judgement. Kolmar’s criminal case is the latest instance of Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) that seeks to intimidate and silence civil society and critical voices from the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression, which protects reporting on corporate human rights abuses.
Following today’s news, Kolmar should stop inhibiting the work of human rights defenders, including by not appealing the verdict and withdrawing the related civil lawsuit.
Read the full letter below.