Security News > 2021 > June > French Prosecutors Charge 4 Executives Over Libya, Egypt Cyber-Spying
Prosecutors have charged four executives at two French companies accused of aiding Libya's former strongman Moamer Kadhafi and Egyptian authorities to spy on opposition figures who were later detained and tortured, a rights group said Tuesday.
The former chief of Amesys, Philippe Vannier, was charged in Paris last week with "Complicity in acts of torture," according to the International Federation of Human Rights, which was confirmed by judicial sources.
Olivier Bohbot, head of Nexa Technologies, and two other executives were charged with "Complicity in acts of torture and forced disappearances."
The WSJ report revealed that Amesys had provided Deep Packet Inspection technology to Kadhafi's government, allowing it to surreptitiously intercept Internet messages.
Amesys has acknowledged the tech deal with Libya, made in the context of easing ties with the West starting in 2007, when Kadhafi visited French president Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.
At least six alleged victims of the spying who joined the suit as plaintiffs were questioned by French judges from 2013 to 2015.