The reference to “the person who committed the act” may be interpreted as encompassing co-perpetration, by fully or partially contributing to the actus reus. “Furthering by advice or deed”, amounting to aiding and abetting, does not entail making a significant contribution to the crime, but may instead be acts of little or no consequence to its success. (As a comparison, the ICC has taken the view that for the purposes of adjudication according to the mandate of the Court, establishing significant contribution is necessary although it is not expressly required in Article 25(3)(c) of the ICC Statute). Furthermore, the conceptually underdeveloped doctrine of liability for corporate directors for omission of due diligence may be alluded to in the assessment of corporate crime in Swedish courts. Although it escapes more precise definition, the core of the doctrine serves to identify a physical perpetrator of criminal acts consisting in omission within a corporation. The crimes for which the twitter database assessment is relevant tend to fall squarely within the realm of economic activity, such as tax crimes or minor infractions of regulations of manufacturing. Crimes against international law, on the other hand, have only ever been tried in a handful of cases and never in a corporate setting. is in dire need of conceptual development in Swedish law, and particularly so for the crimes in the realm of international criminal law. The contribution of a case combining these two aspects would be substantial, regardless of the outcome. It could further serve as a sound starting point for discussions around corporate criminal liability, conspicuously absent in Swedish legal theory. An indication that the case will have a considerable conceptual impact in that respect is the announcement on 1 November 2018 by Lundin Petroleum that the company has been notified by the prosecutor of a potential corporate fine and possible forfeiture of economic benefits in relation to the operations in Sudan. A corporate fine is not considered a penalty for a crime but is an extraordinary legal remedy serving as a repressive sanction supplanting corporate criminal liability. The corporate fine and forfeiture would likely be tried alongside any future individual indictment, placing the corporation next its’ directors in the courtroom.
The slowly growing body of case-law from domestic courts on atrocity crimes in relation to corporations provides an opportunity for the legal community to gain a better understanding of the concept of corporate criminal liability, individual and organizational. The potential ending of impunity as domestic courts tentatively take this road less traveled also raises the hope of future restitution and compensation for victims. To survivors of atrocity crimes, that could make all the difference.