Bern Regional Court acquits author of report on Kolmar
Published: Wednesday, Feb 21st 2024, 14:01
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The Bern-Mittelland Regional Court has acquitted the authors of a report on the Zug-based commodities trader Kolmar Group of the charge of defamation. The non-governmental organizations Public Eye and Trial International had reported on business with smuggled oil from Libya.
The regional court handed down its ruling on Wednesday, according to the two organizations and Amnesty International. Amnesty International commented that the ruling was an important step against acts of intimidation to protect freedom of expression. The Kolmar Group announced that it would appeal to the Supreme Court.
According to Public Eye and Trial International, the regional court recognized the credibility of the report on the company's trade in smuggled diesel from the civil war country of Libya. According to the two organizations, the court also found that the report was in the public interest.
This confirms that the publication of inconvenient facts is not a criminal offense, but a pillar of democracy. However, the ruling does not yet mean that the action for damages brought by commodities trader Kolmar Group in the amount of CHF 1.8 million is off the table.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has also opened criminal proceedings following a complaint by Public Eye and Trial International. It concerns the suspicion of war crimes through looting. The OAG is investigating unknown persons.
Kolmar claims major damages
The Kolmar Group stated that the "false allegations" had caused great damage to its reputation. In the run-up to the vote on the Responsible Business Initiative, it was more important to the authors in March 2020 to publish a political rather than a factual report based on journalistic principles.
The allegations in the report were defamatory, which the regional court recognized. The acquittal was based solely on proof of good faith.
According to the non-governmental organizations and their criminal complaint to the OAG, Kolmar allegedly bought looted diesel in Malta from Libya. This involved subsidized diesel, which gunmen diverted from state refineries.
Fishing boats smuggled the diesel into international waters, where it was loaded onto waiting ships. The ships transported the fuel to Malta. As a result, Kolmar is said to have purchased over 50,000 tons of the diesel stored there in 2014 and 2015.
In addition to the complaint from the non-governmental organizations, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) received information from the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) between May and June 2020 that coincided with that of the organizations.
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