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Criminal investigation into French companies’ possible complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity
2 June 2022
France
Ongoing
Crime against humanity department of the Paris High Court
Social
Dassault Aviation, Thales, MBDA France
Key Facts:
On 2 June 2022, Sherpa, Mwatana for Human Rights, and the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), with the support of Amnesty International France, submitted a criminal complaint to the Paris Judiciary Tribunal against three French arms companies – Dassault Aviation, Thales, and MBDA. The organisations alleged that the three companies may have been complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Yemen, which were enabled by their arms exports to a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes department launched the judicial investigation on 8 November 2022. The criminal investigation is ongoing.
Sherpa and other civil society organisations had previously challenged the legality of the export licences granted by France to companies selling arms to the coalition before the Administrative courts. However, on 23 January 2023 France’s highest administrative court refused to rule on the legality of decision taken by the government in relation to the arms exports.
Sherpa press release and article
