Overview
- Lafarge SA and eight former executives or intermediaries appeared before the Paris criminal court as the trial opened on charges of funding terrorism, with one intermediary tried in absentia under an international arrest warrant.
- Prosecutors allege that in 2013–2014 the company, via Lafarge Cement Syria, paid several million euros to ISIS and Jabhat al‑Nosra to secure passage, supplies, and continued operations at the Jalabiya plant despite an EU ban from June 28, 2013.
- Lafarge SA pleaded guilty in the United States in 2022, admitting nearly $6 million in payments and accepting a $778 million penalty, while several defendants in France contest its relevance to their individual criminal responsibility.
- Civil parties now total roughly 241, including about 180 former Syrian employees, with victim testimony detailing kidnappings, checkpoints, and risks faced during the plant’s operation.
- If convicted, Lafarge faces fines up to €1.125 million for terror financing and potentially far higher sums for embargo violations, while a separate French investigation into alleged complicity in crimes against humanity remains ongoing.