France’s largest bank is facing
serious accusations after three NGOs on Thursday said they filed
legal action against BNP Paribas alleging “complicity in genocide,
war crimes and crimes against humanity” during Rwanda’s 1994
genocide.
The suit alleges Banque Nationale
de Paris (BNP), as the bank was known before its merger with Paribas
in 2000 to become BNP Paribas, “participated in financing the
purchase of 80 tonnes of arms that served to perpetrate the genocide”
despite the fact, it claims, “that the bank could not have doubted
the genocidal intentions of the authorities of the country for which
it authorized the transfer” of funds. The groups note that a United
Nations arms embargo was in effect at the time.
The genocide in the tiny central
African country claimed 800,000 lives, mostly from Rwanda’s ethnic
Tutsi minority, between April and July 1994.
The three NGOs leading the charge
are Sherpa, an anti-corruption group that defends victims of economic
crimes, Ibuka France, an association that defends survivors of the
genocide, and the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR), a
group based in France that pursues claims against genocide suspects.
Sherpa earned headlines recently when it filed a lawsuit against the
Swiss-French cement giant LafargeHolcim alleging the company financed
Islamic State group in Syria.
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