French cement manufacturer accused of financing Syrian militants

A Paris court has found the French cement manufacturer Lafarge guilty of the fact that its Syrian branch financed Syrian terrorists during the civil war in the country. This was reported by the Reuters news agency on April 13.

According to the court, in the period from 2013 to September 2014, the company paid €5.6 million to radical groups, including the Islamic State (IS) and the Jabhat al-Nusra movement, which is associated with al-Qaeda (all three are recognized as terrorist organizations in the Russian Federation, their activities are prohibited). In addition, the company is accused of continuing to operate its plant in Syria in violation of European sanctions.

"It is clear to the court that the sole purpose of financing the terrorist organization was to maintain the operation of the Syrian factory for economic reasons. Payments to terrorist organizations allowed Lafarge to continue its activities," the agency quoted the chairman of the instance as saying.

Eight Lafarge employees, including department heads, were found guilty of financing terrorism, Reuters reports.

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The newspaper Le Parisien reported on April 2 that French law enforcement officers had detained Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament (EP) from the left-wing France Defiant party in Paris. The reason was a social media post in which Hassan mentioned Japanese terrorist Kozo Okamoto, who participated in the terrorist attack at Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion Airport) in Israel in May 1972. The publication attracted the interest of the National Center for Combating Online Hate, which launched an investigation. After the first call to the police, the deputy deleted the post.

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