Overview

• Paris investigating judges issued a referral dated September 26, 2025, sending the company to the criminal court on a charge of involuntary injuries.
• The case centers on claims the firm underestimated AQIM threats and failed to put adequate security in place at the Arlit site in 2010.
• Areva, now operating as Orano, declined to comment through its lawyer, Marion Lambert-Barret.
• An ex-hostage’s lawyer, Olivier Morice, accused the company of ignoring repeated warnings intended to protect employees.
• Case files cited weak site protection at staff housing, unarmed private guards, no alert system, and slow local force response, set against kidnappings that saw partial releases in 2011 and final frees in 2013.