In a landmark ruling on 13 April 2026, a Paris court found the French cement giant Lafarge guilty of financing terrorism and breaching EU sanctions.

The court determined that between 2013 and 2014, Lafarge paid roughly €5.59 million to armed groups in Syria, including ISIS, to keep its Jalabiya plant operational.

The firm was fined €1.125 million, the maximum penalty. Former executives and intermediaries received prison sentences, with intermediary Firas Tlass sentenced to seven years.

The judge characterised the payments as a profit-driven "commercial partnership" rather than a security measure.

[RT]

Defence barristers walk out after judicial ruling in Filton 6 trial - while police make arrests outside court

For a third time over the last week, the Met police have made arrests outside Woolwich Crown Court of people holding signs communicating the principle of jury equity. The group of 6 people arrested were sitting peacefully displaying the signs: "Jurors have an absolute right to acquit according to their conscience" and “Even without legal defence jurors can still acquit on conscience”.

Meanwhile, inside Woolwich Crown Court, there has been a shocking development in the Filton case; five of the six defence barristers have left the trial following judicial rulings which cannot be reported until the end of the trial.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said today:

“In recent years, we have seen judicial rulings that banned climate campaigners from saying the words ‘fuel poverty’ and ‘climate change’ in their trials. Today we understand a judicial ruling has been given that goes even further, and as a response, the legal professionals representing five of the six defendants on trial in the Filton case have no choice but to leave the trial because they have been left with literally nothing they can say in closing arguments.”

The trial of the first six defendants from the group known as the ‘Filton24’ has reached the stage of closing arguments. Five of the six defendants will now be giving their own closing speeches as they have no legal representation.

[RT]