"A New York jury has found that French banking giant BNP Paribas's work in Sudan helped to prop up the regime of former ruler Omar al-Bashir, making it liable for atrocities that took place under his rule. The eight-member jury on Friday sided with three plaintiffs originally from Sudan, awarding a total of $20.75m in damages, after hearing testimony describing horrors committed by Sudanese soldiers and the Popular Defence Forces, the government-linked militia known as the Janjaweed."
"The plaintiffs two men and one woman, all now American citizens told the federal court in Manhattan that they had been tortured, burned with cigarettes, slashed with a knife, and, in the case of the woman, sexually assaulted. I have no relatives left, Entesar Osman Kasher told the court. The trial focused on whether BNP Paribas's financial services were a natural and adequate cause of the harm suffered by survivors of ethnic cleansing and mass violence in Sudan."
A New York jury found that BNP Paribas's banking work in Sudan helped prop up Omar al‑Bashir's regime and awarded three former Sudanese plaintiffs $20.75 million in damages. The plaintiffs told the Manhattan federal court they had been tortured, burned with cigarettes, slashed with a knife, and sexually assaulted. The trial examined whether BNP Paribas's financial services, including letters of credit issued while doing business in Sudan from the late 1990s until 2009, were a natural and adequate cause of harm suffered during ethnic cleansing and mass violence. BNP Paribas said the ruling is clearly wrong and intends to appeal. Plaintiffs' counsel called the verdict a victory for justice and accountability.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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