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French spyware accused of torturing dissidents

Senior executives of a French spyware company have been accused of torturing and disappearing dissidents for selling surveillance software to authoritarian regimes in Libya and Egypt.

Although high-tech surveillance is a multi-billion dollar industry, it is rare for companies or individuals to have legal consequences for selling such technologies, even to famous dictatorships or other dangerous regimes. But allegations in the Paris Court of Justice that changed its name to Amesys (later a surveillance company) accused the sales to Libya and Egypt of the last decade of crushing the opposition, torturing dissidents and saying they are other human beings. violations of rights.

Former Amesys chief Philippe Vannier and three current and executive executives at Nexa technologies have accused the Libyan regime of “complicity in acts of torture” by selling spy technology. French media report Nexa’s Bohbot president Nexa, CEO Renaud Roques and former president Stéphane Salies have the same charges for sales care to Egypt.

“When you look at these companies’ attempts to take responsibility, you see a lot of failures … we still have big hurdles.”

Clémence Bectarte, International Federation for Human Rights

The indictment was filed by the Court’s Human Crimes and War Crimes Unit, but the case began 10 years ago when Amesys sold its internet traffic listening system to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Six victims of espionage testified that they were arrested and tortured by the regime in France, saying that this experience is a direct result of these espionage tools. In 2014, the company sold surveillance software to Egyptian President Abdel al-Sisi shortly after the country took control of a military coup.

Complaints filed by the International Federation for Human Rights or FIDH and the French League for Human Rights state that the company did not allow the government to sell its technologies to Libya or Egypt because supervision was weak and sometimes lacking. The claims led to an independent judicial investigation against Amesys / Nexa, which is still ongoing. The judges will then decide whether to send or resolve the case to the criminal court if there is not enough evidence, but the prosecution is a big step forward and the judges will see that they are strong enough to support the evidence. criminal trial.


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