Ian Lundin and Alex Schneiter, the former chairman and the former CEO of Lundin Oil, are charged with aiding and abetting serious crimes against humanity in southern Sudan between 1999 and 2003, when the Swedish company operated in the area.
According to prosecutors, they helped the then Sudanese regime commit war crimes to secure the company's oil operations in the southern parts of the country. During the fighting, many civilians were displaced, injured and killed.
Lundin and Schneiter have denied the allegations. They say the indictment is based on a long list of factual errors, and they also deny that the type of war crimes alleged in the indictment were committed.
Carl Bildt was a board member of Lundin Oil from 2000 to 2006, when he became Minister of Foreign Affairs. The hearing has been ongoing since fall 2023, and Bildt is one of around a hundred witnesses who have been called.
According to the prosecutor's interrogation themes, questioning of Bildt will, among other things, concern his knowledge of the situation in block 5a, the area where the company was operating, and the government's conduct of the war.
He will also be asked about emails and documents he authored that show he warned the board about the situation in the country, including emails to Ian Lundin in 2001, in which he described the government's resumption of "indiscriminate bombing," as reported by Blankspot.
According to prosecutors, the purpose of the interrogation is, among other things, to show that Lundin and Schneiter knew that the fighting in the area was about control over oil exploration and that the military was committing war crimes.
The trial in the so-called Lundin case has been ongoing since September 2023 and is the longest main hearing ever held in Sweden.
The trial is due to conclude in May this year.
