A critical reflection on the prosecution of Lafarge for terrorism financing and involvement in crimes against humanity

This article unpacks the criminal charges against the French cement company Lafarge for their complicity in crimes against humanity and terrorism financing during the war in Syria. We take these unique criminal proceedings as an opportunity to examine the relationship between corporate involvement in international crimes, terrorism financing, law and accountability. Through a qualitative analysis of media publications and court records, we reconstruct events during the Syrian war. We draw on social studies of finance, criminology and law to develop ‘value practices’ as a concept to structure our analysis of these events. We propose this interdisciplinary inquiry shows that it is not a singular legal issue that complicates the prosecution of Lafarge, nor does accountability depend solely on the political will of states. Rather, centring on ‘value practices’, we include notions of temporality and changing political stakes, which are essential elements to understand corporate accountability in conflict areas.