Take legal action against a company for ” crimes against humanity “, as is the case in the case of Lafarge, is it a historic first ?
Guillaume Mouralis.- This is apparently a first in the pursuit of an enterprise as a legal person. In contrast, leaders and managers of the largest German companies have been prosecuted, tried, and convicted as individuals, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 1947 and 1948. Not by the German courts, nor by the international military tribunal (IMT) Nuremberg, but by the military courts of the occupants allies, mainly americans.
The international criminal law, from Nuremberg until today, knows that the offences and crimes committed by individuals against other individuals. Of course, the Nuremberg tribunal has indicted seven ” criminal organizations “, of which three have been convicted. It was organizations, political and administrative policies of nazi Germany – the party of hitler, the NSDAP and the SS – but no businesses.
These have, therefore, escaped their responsibilities for participation in the nazi crimes ?
Not their leaders, at least a few dozen of them – and again, temporarily. After the verdict of Nuremberg against nazi leaders, on October 1, 1946, the Americans organized, in 1947 and 1948, what is called the “trial successors” to judge those responsible, “the second rank” according to the same rules of law as the TMI.
On the twelve trials, three were the leaders of the three largest industrial groups, germans, Krupp, Flick and IG Farben. The trial of Krupp condemns the boss’s son, Alfried Krupp to twelve years in prison, and eleven frames of penalties – including confiscation of their property – a crime against…
