Trial starts in Sweden of 2 oil executives accused of complicity in war crimes in Sudan

A trial has started in Stockholm of two executives of a Swedish oil exploration and production company accused of complicity in war crimes in Sudan 20 years ago by securing the company’s oil operations in the African nation. Prosecutors claim that Ian Lundin, former chairman of Lundin Oil, and Alex Schneiter, its former CEO, supported the Sudanese government of former dictator Omar al-Bashir. From 1983 to 2005, Sudan was torn apart by a civil war between the Muslim-dominated north and Christian south. Thousands of people were killed and nearly 200,000 displaced. At the start of the trial at the Stockholm District Court Tuesday, Lundin said the accusations were “completely false.”