A rare human rights case against a global bank is underway in the United States, as French lender BNP Paribas stands trial over accusations it financed Sudan’s repressive government under former president Omar al-Bashir.
The class-action lawsuit, filed in 2016 on behalf of more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees now living in the US, claims BNP enabled Bashir’s regime to access US financial markets and “petrodollars” in the 1990s and 2000s, revenue that allegedly funded weapons used against civilians.
The case, initially dismissed in 2018 but revived on appeal in 2019, is being heard in New York and is expected to last 10 weeks.
During Bashir’s three decades in power, Sudan endured brutal conflicts, including the Darfur war, where government-led attacks killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced two million between 2003 and 2005.
The US government recognised the atrocities as genocide in 2004, and the International Criminal Court indicted Bashir in 2009 for genocide and crimes against humanity.
BNP Paribas had already pleaded guilty in 2014 to violating US sanctions by transferring billions of dollars for Sudanese, Iranian, and Cuban entities, paying an $8.97 billion fine.
However, victims of atrocities such as mass rape, torture, and killings did not receive compensation.
The trial marks a rare instance of a multinational bank being directly confronted in a US court over alleged complicity in human rights abuses.
