By Esra Taskın
PARIS (AA) – Two former Syrian employees testified Friday in the trial of French cement company Lafarge that is charged with “financing a terrorist organization.”
The case, in which Lafarge, as a legal entity, and eight individuals are accused of “financing a terrorist organization” in connection with activities in Syria between 2013 and 2014, is ongoing at the Paris Criminal Court.
At Friday’s hearing, two former Syrian employees, who are civil parties to the case, gave testimony.
One of the former employees in the region, identified as M., recounted being abducted three times by terror groups while traveling between the location of the factory in Syria in the district of Manbij, where he lived, and the city of Aleppo, where his family resides.
He said that during the first abduction, he was alone, while during the other two, he was accompanied by colleagues.
M. added that the first abduction was between Aleppo and Manbij, the second was near a bus stop in Aleppo and the third in the eastern part of Aleppo.
He explained that the groups abducted him because they suspected him of being a spy for the now-fallen Bashar al-Assad regime, describing the journey between his workplace and home as “frightening.”
M. reaffirmed that Lafarge had taken initiatives to address the dangers in the region, but he considered those procedures insufficient given how dangerous the situation had become.
He said that when they went to work, the area was being bombed by planes of the fallen regime and had snipers, adding that they had been constantly confronted with the threat of death and sniper fire.
M. underscored that while at the factory, they were under the constant threat of an attack by a group.
- Checkpoints reported right up to factory gate
Another former employee named D., who worked in a unit considered the “brain” of the factory, said employees were sometimes prevented from entering the factory when disputes arose among different terror groups in the region.
He stressed that there were checkpoints right up to the factory gate controlled by terror organizations.
Despite the situation in the region, D. said his superiors pressured him to go to the factory to prepare reports, and he and a colleague had to jump over barbed wire to enter the factory.
Christian Herrault, Lafarge’s former deputy director general of operations responsible for Syria, said he met twice with officers from France’s domestic intelligence agency (DGSI) who warned him about Syrian defendant Amro Talep.
The case alleges that Talep acted as an intermediary between Lafarge and raw material suppliers connected to organizations in Syria.
- Anadolu published evidence proving Lafarge financed terror group ISIS
On Sept. 7, 2021, Anadolu drew international attention by publishing documents proving that Lafarge financed the ISIS terror group with the knowledge of French intelligence.
According to the documents, the firm regularly informed French intelligence services about its relations with ISIS while French intelligence and state institutions failed to warn Lafarge that it was committing crimes against humanity by financing terrorism, as admitted in confidential records.
ISIS used cement purchased from the French firm to build terror shelters and tunnels.
As part of an investigation launched in June 2017, several senior executives, including Lafarge’s former CEO Bruno Lafont, were charged with financing terrorism.
On Oct. 16, 2024, three investigating judges decided that the Lafarge group and four of its former executives would stand trial on charges of financing a terror group and violating the EU embargo that bans all financial and commercial relations with terror groups, including ISIS.