PARIS —
Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary probe Thursday into the alleged
involvement of French technology firm Qosmos in supplying Syria's regime with
surveillance equipment, judicial sources said.
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A page of
the website of the French
company Qosmos (AFP)
|
The
investigation follows a suit filed by human rights groups against the firm
which said that Qosmos may have been supplying equipment that helped President
Bashar Al-Assad's regime spy on opposition forces.
The
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights League
(LDH) jointly filed the complaint with the Paris prosecutor on Wednesday.
"Western
companies must know that they cannot sell this type of equipment to
authoritarian regimes without being held accountable," said Michel Tubiana
of the LDH.
Qosmos's
website says its core expertise is in "technology that creates an
information layer in communications networks, enabling detailed, real-time
visibility into all IP (Internet Protocol) traffic as it crosses
networks".
Benoit
Chabert, a lawyer for the firm, told AFP on Wednesday that Qosmos had not yet
seen the complaint filed against it but that it had been involved in no
wrong-doing.
The French
foreign ministry said Qosmos' last exports to Syria appeared to have taken
place in late 2011, before the European Union in January banned exports of
technology equipment that could be used against the opposition.
According
to a tally by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 19,000 people,
mostly civilians, have died since Assad sent in his troops to crush a a popular
uprising that erupted in March last year.
French
authorities opened a probe in May into the activities of Amesys, another French
firm, after the FIDH and LDH accused it of providing surveillance equipment to
Libya's now dead strongman Moamer Kadhafi.
The
equipment, the groups said, was aimed at targeting "opponents, arresting
them and putting them in prison, where they were tortured".
Amesys said
after the probe was announced that it "very strongly denies the accusation
of 'complicity in torture' and hopes to quickly be able to inform the
investigating magistrate of the reality of the case".
The company
had admitted in September that it supplied Kadhafi's regime with "analysis
equipment" but noted the deal was made only after Libya had improved ties
with the West and that it did not operate any surveillance.
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