In 2010, the cement maker—since acquired by Switzerland’s Holcim—completed work on a new £680m cement plant in Jalabiya, Reuters and others report. A year later, the Syrian people rose up against their government, during the ‘Arab Spring’ protests, and were met with brutal repression. In the multi-sided armed conflict that followed, Islamic State militants took control of large swathes of Syrian territory, including, by 2013, the area around the plant.
Other Western and international businesses left the country, but Lafarge stayed, only evacuating its expatriate staff. It was at this point, presiding judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez said, that the company formed a “genuine commercial partnership with IS.”
The company, it was alleged, had paid €5.6m through its Lafarge Cement Syria subsidiary to militants including IS and Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and their intermediaries to keep the plant, and the trucks that supplied it, running. Prevost-Deprez said, “This method of financing terrorist organisations, and primarily IS, was essential in enabling the terrorist organisation to gain control of Syria’s natural resources, allowing it to finance terrorist acts within the region and those planned abroad, particularly in Europe.”
Lafont was sentenced alongside other Lafarge executives, security managers and intermediaries. The case was brought after a campaign by former Syrian employees of the company and the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights.
In a statement through ECCHR, some of the 190 former employees who had brought a civil claim, which was denied, alongside the criminal prosecution said, “Lafarge was aware of what was happening to us – the checkpoints, the threats, the daily fear – but chose to risk the lives of its employees for profit.”
Lafont’s lawyers have said he will appeal. Holcim, which acquired the company in 2015, said it had no knowledge of the deals.
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