A judicial investigation was opened in Paris against the French bank BNP Paribas, accused by several NGOs of "complicity in crimes against humanity" committed in Sudan, announced Thursday, September 24, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) on Twitter.

"This is excellent news for the victims, and a further step towards a criminal investigation into the responsibility of the BNP which served as a de facto central bank for the Sudanese authorities, at the height of the genocide in Darfur, then under embargo", adds the NGO.

This judicial information was opened on August 26, at the Paris court, for "complicity in crimes against humanity, genocide and acts of torture and barbarism", nearly a year after the filing of a complaint with the constitution of civil parties by FIDH, the Human Rights League (LDH) and nine Sudanese activists who fled their country, a judicial source confirmed to AFP.

đź”´On 09/16/19, 9 Sudanese victims, with the support of FIDH and @ExpediteJustice, filed a complaint against @BNPParibas for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity, torture and genocide, and financial crimes.


➡️On 22/09/2020, a judicial investigation was opened.

pic.twitter.com/swv74Gcaur

- FIDH (@fidh_fr) September 24, 2020

đź”´On 09/16/19, 9 Sudanese victims, with the support of FIDH and @ExpediteJustice, filed a complaint against @BNPParibas for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity, torture and genocide, and financial crimes.


➡️On 22/09/2020, a judicial investigation was opened.

pic.twitter.com/swv74Gcaur

- FIDH (@fidh_fr) September 24, 2020

The complaint with the constitution of civil party almost automatically results in the appointment of an investigating judge to conduct the investigations.

The first European bank, already targeted by an investigation for complicity in crimes against humanity during the genocide in Rwanda, is accused by the complainants of not having respected the embargo against the regime of Omar al-Bashir, dismissed in 2019 .

According to them, she was thus complicit in crimes committed between 2002 and 2008, in particular in Darfur, a region that has since been ravaged by a civil war which has left more than 300,000 dead, according to the UN.

With AFP

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