US judge dismisses Sudan genocide lawsuit against Canadian energy company News
US judge dismisses Sudan genocide lawsuit against Canadian energy company

[JURIST] US District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York [official website] on Tuesday dismissed [opinion, PDF] a lawsuit alleging that Canadian oil and gas producer Talisman Energy [corporate website] aided genocide in order to access oil in Sudan. The judge ruled that "the plaintiffs have failed to locate admissible evidence that Talisman has violated international law."

The First Presbyterian Church of Sudan filed the suit [complaint, PDF] in 2001 alleging human rights violations against the company, including extrajudicial killing, forcible displacement, war crimes, kidnapping and rape. Cote originally allowed the suit to continue [JURIST report] despite US and Canadian government attempts to have it dismissed. AP has more.

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