The former CEO of French cement firm Lafarge, Bruno Lafont, and his right-hand man at the company Christian Herrault are to be released from prison under judicial supervision, pending their appeal over convictions handed down in April for financing terrorism in Syria.
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The Paris Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday that the two former executives could leave custody pending the appeal trial.
It said that pre-trial detention was “not the indispensable means” of ensuring they appear in court for the appeal.
The court also took into account what it described as the “shock of imprisonment” for the two men.
Lafont, 69, the former head of the CAC 40 cement giant, and 75-year-old Herrault, its former deputy managing director, were sentenced on 13 April by the Paris Criminal Court to six years and five years in prison respectively.
Both were immediately remanded in custody after the ruling.
On 19 May they applied to be released while awaiting a trial, after appealing their convictions.
French court fines Lafarge, hands ex-CEO jail term for funding IS in Syria
Release conditions
As part of their judicial supervision, the Court of Appeal barred both men from leaving French territory. It also set bail at €100,000 for Lafont and €90,000 for Herrault, with the sums to be paid by 2 July.
However, the court did not grant a request from prosecutors to prevent the two men from contacting one another. The pair had reportedly been held in the same cell at La Santé prison in Paris.
They were expected to be released by the end of Tuesday.
Lafont’s lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, welcomed the decision, telling French news agency AFP she was “relieved” and “above all reassured when magistrates, as is the case today, apply the law”.
Lafarge on trial in Paris over alleged payments to Islamic State in Syria
Payments to jihadists
Lafont and Herrault were among nine defendants convicted on 13 April over payments made in Syria in 2013 and 2014 through Lafarge Cement Syria, the group’s local subsidiary.
The court found that nearly €5.6 million had been paid to armed jihadist groups in an effort to keep Lafarge’s cement plant in Jalabiya, northern Syria, running during the country’s civil war.
The case has become one of the most closely watched corporate accountability trials in France, involving a company once seen as a flagship of French industry. Lafarge has since been absorbed by its Swiss rival Holcim.
Lafarge itself was fined the maximum penalty of €1.125 million. The company was also ordered, jointly with four former executives, to pay a customs fine of €4.57 million for failing to comply with international financial sanctions.
All those convicted – including the company – have appealed. A hearing is expected in the coming months, in a case that has raised questions about corporate conduct, risk-taking and responsibility in conflict zones.
(with newswires)
