+ Two Giants
The former representatives of Lundin Oil, Ian Lundin and Alex Schneiter, are on trial for aiding and abetting grave war crimes in Sudan 1999-2003.
Martin Schibbye, who has long reported on Lundin and who, along with photographer Johan Persson, was imprisoned in Ethiopia while investigating the company's activities in the region, has been present at the trial every day and has been reporting continuously in a WhatsApp group and on the reportage site Blankspot.
He emphasizes that it is a fight between two resource-strong parties.
On the one hand, we have the Swedish state, which has conducted an investigation for 13 years, resulting in over 80,000 pages of investigation, and which has eight prosecutors on its side in the trial.
Against this, you have an oil billionaire and two defendants with large legal teams that have virtually unlimited resources to go through all the evidence. It's quite epic in some way.
+ Disagreement on Everything
They are essentially disagreeing on everything. The defense denies that war crimes were committed in the way alleged and that the defendants had any role in it.
They often question the lack of concretization. "Where did something happen? Who did something?" They want to know the time, place, and event, while the prosecutor talks about offensive operations with anonymous perpetrators. The defense believes it's not enough.
+ Questionable Journalism
The defense has targeted parts of the journalism from Sudan that the prosecutors have presented as evidence, he says.
Not everything held up to scrutiny by corporate lawyers, if you will.
It has, among other things, concerned journalism that has been produced in close collaboration with warring parties. They have also been able to poke holes in reports from certain organizations.
+ The Child Soldier
A large number of plaintiffs have been heard during the ongoing trial. One testimony that stood out was with a former child soldier who appeared with Ian Lundin in a notorious clip from 2001.
It was a testimony that was burning. He had been recruited by his father to one of the militias that were then working to protect the company's oil installations and roads.
+ The Defense's Confidence
The defense has from the beginning described the case as a waste of time and money, and still exudes confidence, according to Schibbye.
They are convinced that this is a fiasco from the prosecutor's side and believe that what is being presented has nothing to do with the company or the defendants. At the same time, the prosecutors are convinced that the evidence is solid.
The trial in the Stockholm District Court began in September 2023 and is planned to continue until February 2026. It is thus the longest main hearing that has been held in Sweden.
In the case, Ian Lundin and Alex Schneiter, former representatives of Lundin Oil, are on trial for aiding and abetting grave war crimes in southern Sudan 1999-2003, when the Swedish company was operating in the war-torn country.
According to the indictment, they had knowledge of and contributed to the military and regime-loyal militia killing and displacing people to create conditions for Lundin Oil's oil prospecting in an area that had long been controlled by rebels.
Lundin and Schneiter have denied the allegations and claim that the indictment is based on a long series of factual errors. In addition to denying aiding and abetting, they deny that the type of war crimes alleged in the indictment took place.
