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Leading international lawyers find basis of the Swedish Prosecutor’s investigation into Lundin in Sudan fundamentally flawed
A new independent report finds that the basis of a Swedish Prosecutor’s criminal investigation into the activities of Lundin Oil (now Lundin Energy) in Sudan between 1997-2003 is fundamentally flawed.
The investigation was prompted by the publication of a 2010 report by campaigning organisation, European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS).
ECOS accuses the Company of complicity in war crimes in southern Sudan.
These allegations were first raised by Christian Aid in 2001 and were exposed to be without foundation at the time.
Holding foreign oil companies responsible for a decades-long conflict is a serious misrepresentation of Sudan’s history.
The NGOs operating in southern Sudan were beholden to the separatist rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army (SPLM/A) who were in control of 80% of the area.
The bias displayed by the NGO reports, and their flawed methodology, would make them inadmissible in international criminal courts.
The Swedish Prosecutor must uphold international criminal law standards when applying universal jurisdiction to a war crimes investigation...
Ian Lundin, former Lundin Energy executive, was cross-examined at Stockholm District Court in December 2024 and January 2025 in the ongoing trial against him, another former executive, and the company for alleged complicity in war crimes.
Fourteen South Sudanese war crime victims testified at Stockholm District Court from May to September 2024 in the ongoing trial against Lundin Energy and two former executives for alleged complicity in war crimes.
The Stockholm District Court ruled that it will not hear claims brought by South Sudanese plaintiffs in the Lundin trial. While the court held that the plaintiffs could bring each bring a separate civil suit against the defendants, the potential legal costs associated with such an action render this impossible.
"On Tuesday 5 September, the Lundin war crimes trial opens at the Stockholm District Court. The Swedish prosecution will present the case against Ian Lundin, Alex Schneiter and Orrön Energy, the new name for Lundin Energy..."
"The long-awaited trial of two former executives of Swedish oil company Lundin begins in Stockholm on September 5. Alex Schneiter and Ian Lundin are charged with complicity in war crimes committed over 20 years ago in what is now South Sudan..."
The trial of Lundin’s former executives will start on 5 September 2023. They have been charged with complicity in war crimes in Sudan between 1999 and 2003.
The Lundin trial is of great significance for the hundreds of thousands of survivors of war crimes committed during the civil war in South Sudan. Furthermore, the trial could also set an important precedent and thereby strengthen the rules that protect human rights from abuse through companies - especially in the context of armed conflict.
After the investigation into the Lundin criminal case was opened in June 2010, the Stockholm District Court now released a timetable for the trial. The two defendants and the company are accused of having supported gross and systematic international crimes in Sudan. The 220 scheduled court days make it the longest trial in Swedish history.
"The lawyers supporting the victims of obstruction of justice were dismissed by the Stockholm District Court... In 2018, a criminal investigation was opened into bribery, threats and acts of violence against witnesses in the Lundin war crimes case...The prosecutor disagrees with the court’s decision."
"On January 11, the Stockholm District Court decided that the trial should begin in September this year. Two days later the court rejected the prosecutor’s petition to hold more pre-trial hearings. Meanwhile the defence filed several complaints arguing that the indictment is too vague."
"The Supreme Court of Sweden confirmed on 10 November, 2022, that Sweden can prosecute Lundin’s former CEO Alex Schneiter. The decision ensures that Sweden continues to honour the principle of universal jurisdiction"
"The Supreme Court has ruled that the Swedish court has jurisdiction to hear the prosecution of a Swiss former representative of Lundin Oil for complicity in alleged war crimes in Sudan."
"The District Court has decided to resume the planning of the trial against Ian Lundin, Alex Schneiter and Lundin Energy AB. Ian Lundin and Lundin/Orrön Energy responded with an appeal to the Court to reject the indictment for failing to properly describe the alleged crimes..."
"Alex Schneiter has appealed the court’s latest decision that Sweden can try him for aiding and abetting war crimes in Sudan. If the Supreme Court accepts his argument, it will have wide-reaching consequences on Sweden’s ability to try war criminals."
On 11 November 2021, Sweden's public prosecutor brought charges against the chairman and former CEO of Lundin Energy for alleged complicity in war crimes carried out by the Sudanese army and allied militia in southern Sudan from 1999 to 2003.
"The public prosecutor...has formally indicted Ian Lundin and Alex Schneiter for complicity in grave war crimes in Sudan from 1999 to 2003...[He] argues that the accused, in different ways, were complicit in war crimes. It is this complicity that is now under indictment."