LAFARGE JUDGMENT<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n This is a \u201chistoric\u201d verdict that is \u201cproportionate to the extreme gravity of the facts\u201d, says Cannelle Lavite, co-director of the Business and Human Rights Program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) which was recognized as a civil party. She says it also reflects, as the presiding judge emphasized, \u201cthe scale of the incalculable disruption to public order\u201d caused by this financing. In her view, \u201cthe court established that Lafarge had mobilized financial, human, and political resources\u201d to maintain a strategy centred on preserving its economic interests, leading to the approval of payments that strengthened \u201cthe operational capacity of these groups\u201d and notably enabled \u201cthe arming, recruitment, and training of terrorists\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the case is the relentless pursuit of operations at the Jalabiya cement plant in northeast Syria. Lafarge acquired it in 2007, while it was still under construction, as part of the takeover of Egyptian company Orascom Cement. The deal opened up new markets for the multinational in a region where demand for cement was expected to grow, but it also increased the debt of the group, which anticipated a return on investment as soon as the site began operations in 2010. This outlook was derailed by the Syrian people\u2019s uprising against Bashar al-Assad in 2011, which plunged the country into civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, despite the deteriorating security situation, management chose to maintain production at the cement plant, operated by Lafarge Cement Syria, a Syrian subsidiary 98.7% owned by the French group. As all French companies ceased operations in the country starting in July 2012, Lafarge evacuated its expatriate employees. The Syrian employees, left on their own, kept the Jalabiya plant running, in the heart of a region now contested by several armed groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To maintain production, ensure the delivery of raw materials, and guarantee the movement of employees, the company relied on intermediaries tasked with negotiating and implementing financial arrangements with three groups: Islamic State, the al-Nusra Front, and Ahrar al-Sham. In its ruling, the court found that Lafarge SA transferred nearly 5.6 million euros to these organizations, concluding that the defendants, \u201cin pursuit of profit\u201d, organized, approved, or facilitated a system for financing terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n As the court handed down its verdict, presiding judge Isabelle Pr\u00e9vost-Desprez<\/a> strongly criticized the strategy of the defence, which claimed, among other things, that the defendants had been victims of \u201cextortion\u201d. The court found that, on the contrary, the multinational had \u201cfull decision-making autonomy\u201d and could have ceased operations at the plant once it became aware of the armed groups\u2019 financial demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By agreeing to pay, Lafarge benefited from these \u201carrangements\u201d, the presiding judge stressed, citing the clearing of roads, the movement of trucks and employees via passes, the purchase of inputs for cement production, and even the neutralization of Turkish competition in the region. Its desire \u201cto derive benefits from the relationship established, in particular, with Islamic State\u201d demonstrates \u201cthat it was not without freedom of action\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The presiding judge added that \u201cthis hearing would not have been the same without the accounts\u201d of the Syrian employees who came to describe to the court their daily lives marked by fear, crossing areas with snipers and checkpoints, kidnappings for ransom, and threats of dismissal if they did not report to the factory. These testimonies, according to Pr\u00e9vost-Desprez, dismantled \u201cthe fiction\u201d perpetuated by the defence, \u201caccording to which operations in Syria had to be maintained while preserving the employees\u2019 safety, in their best interest\u201d. The proceedings \u201cdemonstrated just how cynical this seemingly humanistic and socially conscious argument actually was\u201d, she continued, serving as a \u201cfallacious pretext\u201d to justify \u201cdecisions made exclusively in the financial interest of the Lafarge group\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, Lafarge was found guilty of financing a terrorist enterprise and sentenced to the maximum fine under French law of 1.125 million euros, as well as a fine of 4.57 million euros for non-compliance with international financial sanctions. This last must be paid jointly with four former executives: Bruno Lafont, Christian H\u00e9rault, Bruno Pescheux, and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Jolibois. Lafarge had already been convicted in the United States in 2022 as part of a plea agreement covering some of the same facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its ruling, the court highlighted the gravity of the offences and the context in which they were committed. Continuing operations in a war zone, despite the growing strength of armed groups, led to the establishment of circumvention mechanisms that integrated these groups into the very functioning of the plant. The presiding judge also stressed that \u201cno one could have been unaware\u201d of the atrocities committed by Islamic State, noting in particular the genocide against the Yazidis<\/a>, which began in August 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These funds, the written judgment notes, also enabled the three terrorist organizations \u201cto strengthen themselves, expand geographically, arm themselves, train fighters who committed terrible atrocities during the periods in question in Syria, and to send \u201chardcore\u201d terrorists\u2014as Christian Herrault called them in reference to Islamic State\u2014to France and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to this trial<\/a>, Lafarge remains under investigation in a separate aspect of the case concerning allegations of complicity in crimes against humanity<\/a>. That investigation, which is still ongoing, focuses on facts related to the cement plant\u2019s continued operation in an area controlled by armed groups accused of seriously violating international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Paris Criminal Court convicted four former executives of the group, as well as several intermediaries involved in operations in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Lafarge CEO Bruno Lafont was sentenced to six years in prison and a fine of 225,000 euros. He was found guilty of financing terrorism and violating international sanctions, as the court found that he had approved continuation of the financing scheme. Lafont was immediately jailed following the hearing. The same applies to the former deputy chief operating officer, Christian H\u00e9rault. He was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 225,000 euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two other former executives of the Syrian subsidiary, Bruno Pescheux and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Jolibois, were found guilty of the same offences. The former was sentenced to five years in prison, without parole, and a fine of 225,000 euros, while the latter received a three-year prison sentence, two years of which were suspended with provisional enforcement, along with a fine of 80,000 euros. The sentences were handed down without a committal order, sparing the two men immediate incarceration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several intermediaries and \u201cplant security\u201d officers who operated in Syria on behalf of Lafarge were found guilty only of \u201cfinancing terrorist enterprises\u201d and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 months to seven years, as well as fines ranging from 20,000 to 225,000 euros. None of them were present at the hearing. Arrest warrants have now been issued for some of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several defence attorneys, notably those representing Lafont and H\u00e9rault, announced their intention to appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\t On the civil parties\u2019 side, Lavite welcomes all the convictions. The lawyer considers the sentences \u201cjustified\u201d by \u201cthe seriousness of the facts\u201d and \u201ctotal lack of accountability on the part of the former executives and the company\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She says the size of the fines, in particular, sends \u201ca very strong signal\u201d against \u201cthe inconsistencies in the defendants\u2019 defence\u201d, \u201ccover-ups and manoeuvres that were put in place to hide payments to terrorist groups\u201d, which she predicts will have \u201cmajor reputational consequences for Lafarge\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a joint press release<\/a>, Sherpa and the ECCHR\u2014two organizations behind the case\u2014express regret that the 190 former Syrian employees who had sought to join the proceedings as civil parties were not recognized. The court ruled that the offence of terrorist financing falls under the public interest and cannot constitute direct harm to individuals, rendering their claim inadmissible. In this statement, the employees emphasize that \u201cLafarge knew\u201d but \u201cchose to endanger the lives of its employees in the name of profit\u201d. \u201cEven though we are disappointed today, after ten years, and although we have still not received compensation or recognition of our suffering, we will not give up and will continue to demand our rights and the justice we deserve,\u201d say these employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The verdict nevertheless sets a major legal precedent. For the first time, a company has been found guilty, as a legal entity, of financing terrorism. The decision goes beyond the Lafarge case alone and is expected to become a benchmark for corporate criminal liability<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nParis Correctional Court, 13 April 2026 (in French)
\n <\/p>\n\u201cFinancial arrangements\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Defence arguments strongly rejected<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Maximum fine for the corporate entity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Christian](\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syrie-France_proces-Lafarge-Christian-Herrault_@Behrouz-Mehri-AFP.jpg\")
Bosses in jail<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Major legal precedent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Photo-proces-Lafarge-Justice-Info-10.04.26-5-540x360.jpg\")
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