In 2021, four employees of Amesys, a French technology company, were indicted by investigative magistrates in Paris in connection with charges of complicity in torture and disappearances. The allegations arise from as a result of Amesys sales of digital surveillance technology to the Libyan regime, specifcally packet monitoring spyware to eavesdrop on internet traffic.

In November 2022, the Investigative Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the indictments.

The case arose from media stories in 2011 based on documents found in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolution in Libya which purported to show the Amesys surveillance systems were used to target activists for arrest and interrogation. Amesys has claimed that its contract with the Libyan authorities was concluded in 2007 and that its engagement with the regime took place at a time when western governments were keen to cultivate good relations to the regime of Muammar Ghaddafi.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the French League for Human Rights (LDH), and Sherpa all filed complaints in 2011 and 2012 and have been supporting Libyan victims as civil parties to the case.

Amesys involvement in Libya has also arisen in connection with the pattern of French-Libyan relations associated with the corruption conviction in 2025 of former French President Nicholas Sarkozy in connection with Libyan financing of his campaign.

Sources:

Surveillance and torture in Libya: The Paris Court of Appeal confirms the indictment of Amesys and its executives, and cancels that of two employees, FIDH, 21 November 2022

French spyware bosses indicted for their role in the torture of dissidents | Patrick Howell O’neill, 22 June 2021, MIT Technology Review

France – Libya case, from the financing of Sarkozy’s campaign to transnational grand corruption, Sherpa

Amesys and two of its executives, TRIAL International, 2022

French executives of Amesys and Nexa Technologies face torture charges for selling spy gear to Libya, Egypt, BHRRC database

In 2014, French authorities opened an investigation into the surveillance tech company Qosmos in connection with the sale of surveillance tech to the Assad regime in Syria.

The decision responded to a complaint filed in a Paris court by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH) alleging the softeware and equipment allowed the Assad regime to track, and monitor the digital activities of dissidents and target they for arrest and torture.

Qosmos denied all allegations and filed a defamation complaint against both human rights groups.  The company asserted it had never entered into a contractual agreement with the Syrian Government with respect to the sale of any of its products and that its activities comply with all applicable laws. 

The case in France was followed in 2018 by a complaint filed by ECCHR to the German Federal Public Prosecutor (Generalbundesanwalt, GBA) alleging that a German technology company should be investigated for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity and war crimes through its provision of surveillance tools to the Assad regime. That complaint targeted high-ranking employees of the Syrian military intelligence service, Syria Telecom as well as a German company called Utimaco. “According to ECCHR’s information, Utimaco supported a centralized surveillance system run by Syrian Telecom – even as late as 2011 when protests against Assad’s government started. Syrian Telecom is close to the government and apparently controlled by Syrian intelligence. Utimaco partnered for this work with Italian company Area SpA and Qosmos SA from France.” (ECCHR)

The German prosecutor opted not to take up the case against Utimaco.

In 2020 a French judge dismissed the case against Qosmos on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to establish a causal link between the surveillance equipment (which was reportedly defective) and the acts of torture and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Syrian regime.

Sources:

France: Opening of a judicial investigation targeting Qosmos for complicity in acts of torture in Syria, FIDH, 11 April 2014

Surveillance in Syria: European firms may be aiding and abetting crimes against humanity, ECCHR case summary

Excuses, Excuses: surveillance technology and repressive regimes, Human Rights First, 18 November 2011

On May 13, 2019, the Federal Court of Appeals of Tucumán, Argentina, affirmed the charges against three executives of the La Fronterita Sugar Mill, in Tucuman. The trial is expected to take place in late 2025 or early 2026.

The executives were charged with participating in crimes against humanity of torture and participating in a criminal enterprise. The allegations against the executives included that they “provided general and detailed information on workers and employees in order to identify them and implement illegal persecution and repression measures against them.”

The court found that a clandestine detention center and military base operated from the grounds of La Fronterita Sugar Mill and that crimes against humanity had been committed there.

The court found that over 70 trade unionists or members of the local community were killed and that these killings were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population during the dictatorship. Victims were detained at the mill, at colonies owned by the company, or from checkpoints on their way to work. Several were kidnapped using sugar mill vehicles.

The charges arose from the company’s provision of facilities and locations for the establishment of a military base and clandestine interrogation center. In addition, executives collaborated with logistical operations and maintenance; issued permits and authorizations for military forces to operate on "La Fronterita" property and conduct operations there; they provided company-owned vehicles to military personnel as well as information about workers. (Prosecutor's Office website, 2022)

Sources:

Groundbreaking Tucumán dictatorship trial at risk due to defendant’s age, Buenos Aires Herald, 26 July 2025

Request from the Prosecutor's Office to the Federal Court and the General Directorate of Asset Recovery and Forfeiture (includes case history), 29 December 2022; “Tucumán: At the request of the MPF, the La Fronterita sugar mill was seized for having been used to commit crimes against humanity.

Ministerio de Justicia, Lesa humanidad: la Secretaría de Derechos Humanos será querellante en la cause “La Fronterita”, 6 November 2020

Trial Monitoring, Crimes Against Humanity in Argentina, Secretariat for Human Rights of the Nation, Ministry of Human Rights (not updated)

In September 2015, former VW factory workers and other trade unionists filed a complaint against VW Brasil in São Paolo alleging executives had colluded with dictatorship authorities to target activists. They accused the company of spying on its workforce and handing over opposition members to be tortured by the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985).

The São Paolo authorities launched an investigation of VW, which ended when a settlement was reached in 2020. Volkswagen agreed to pay Euro 5.5 million to victims and stated "We regret the violations that occurred in the past. For Volkswagen AG, it is important to deal responsibly with this negative chapter in Brazil's history and promote transparency."

The wider crime base in which the company’s activities were alleged to have been involved were investigated by Brazil’s National Truth Commission, which uncovered evidence that Brazilian and foreign companies secretly helped the authorities identify so-called ‘subversives’. The Commission identified more than 400 people who were killed and estimated that 40,000 people were tortured during Brazil's dictatorship. The Commission.

Sources:

Case summary, ECCHR, 2020

Documents suggest foreign automakers aided Brazil’s dictators, Brian Winter, Reuters, Aug. 5, 2014

Ministério Público Federal, Ministério Público do Trabalho, Ministério Público do Estado de São Paulo, Inquérito Civil, Compromisso de Ajustamento de Conduta, 23 September 2020

Ministério Público Federal – Procuradoria Federal dos Direitos do Cidadão, Decisão nº 4/2021-PFDC/CAV – Referência: IC 1.34.001.006706/2015-26 (Aprovação do TAC)

Relatório conjunto do MPF, MP/SP e MPT: Direitos humanos, Empresas e Justiça de Transição: O papel da Volkswagen do Brasil na Repressão Política durante a Ditadura Militar, relativo a:

Inquérito Civil nº 1.34.001.006706/2015-26 (Ministério Público Federal)

Inquérito Civil nº 14.725.1417/2015-7 (Ministério Público do Estado de São Paulo)

Inquérito Civil nº 000878.2016.02.001/3 (Ministério Público do Trabalho), outubro de 2020

Relatório da Comissão Nacional da Verdade, 10 de dezembro de 2014