PARIS – Prosecutors have charged four executives at two French companies accused of aiding Libya’s former strongman Muammar Gaddafi and Egyptian authorities to spy on opposition figures who were later detained and tortured, a rights group said Tuesday.
The former chief of Amesys, Philippe Vannier, was charged in Paris last week with “complicity in acts of torture”, according to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), which was confirmed by judicial sources.
Olivier Bohbot, head of Nexa Technologies, and two other executives were charged with “complicity in acts of torture and forced disappearances”.
The firms are suspected of selling internet surveillance gear to Libya and Egypt, respectively, that was used to track down regime opponents.
“This is a considerable step that demonstrates that what we see every day on the ground – the links between the activities of these surveillance companies and violations of human rights – can be considered criminal and lead to complicity charges,” Clémence Bectarte and Patrick Baudouin, lawyers for FIDH, said in a statement.