Nevertheless at the European level, corporate accountability for atrocity crimes and gross human rights violations is beginning to gain traction as the potential international and national the regulatory systems, previously deemed insufficient and underutilized, shift into gear. In the United Kingdom, as a result of a lawsuit filed by Leigh Day on behalf of 142 Sierra Leonean claimants, investigations are under way against the mining firm Tonkolili Iron Ore Ltd and its parent company African Minerals, alleging complicity in police crackdowns in Sierra Leone in 2010 and 2012. It is further worth noting that a significant contribution to corporate accountability for international crimes is currently carried out in France and may be of interest to the Swedish judiciary. In June 2018, three French investigative judges have indicted the multinational Lafarge (now LafargeHolcim) for complicity in crimes against humanity committed in Syria. In that case, brought by Sherpa and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, eight former top executives of the group have been personally charged with crimes including endangering people’s lives in relation to the activities of the group’s cement factory in Syria between 2012 and 2015.
It is the duty of every state to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over war crimes amounting to grave breaches of international humanitarian law. The legal framework available to Swedish prosecutors in fulfilling the obligation is Chapter 22 Section 6 of the Swedish Penal Code (Brottsbalken), which applies to international crimes committed before 1 July 2014 – such as the case at hand – and the Act on Criminal Responsibility for Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, and War Crimes which constitutes the substantive law for international crimes committed after 1 July 2014. The latter legislation was enacted primarily to better reflect recent developments of international criminal law primarily emanating from Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It follows that international crimes consisting in war crimes committed before 1 July 2014 are prosecuted under the Swedish Penal Code as “crime against international law”. The crimes can be twitter database prosecuted on the basis of universal jurisdiction as provided for in Chapter 2, Section 3 (6) of the Swedish Penal Code, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or victims and the place where the crimes were committed. The list of prohibited acts in Chapter 22 Section 6 (1-7) is non-exhaustive, and the provision also explicitly covers any serious violation of a treaty or agreement with a foreign power or an infraction of a generally recognised principle or tenet relating to international humanitarian law concerning armed conflict. The provision thus incorporates international humanitarian law by reference to these sources of law in international law (renvoi). A case of civil liability against the suspects or a third person may be brought in conjunction with the prosecution of the offence, as stipulated by Chapter 22 of The Code of Judicial Procedure.
Approval to prosecute
While authorization from the Swedish governmental authorities is not required to prosecute crimes committed on Swedish territory, it is required where indictments involve extraterritorial jurisdiction, save for where there is a clear link to Swedish or inter-Nordic interests. The government’s authorization is a necessary procedural condition, but it is not, however, part of the judicial process per se. This explains why the government’s appraisal is not based on the merits of the case, but on a rudimentary test of proportionality. The provision requiring authorization does not provide explicit criteria for the test, which is at the government’s discretion. According to reasons stated in government decisions, the test will usually consider the type and importance of the nexus to Sweden and the severity of the alleged crime.