Swissinfo.ch reports that Nestlé and Securitas (one of Switzerland’s largest security firms) have been found guilty by the Civil Court of Lausanne of spying on the anti-globalization activist group Attac Switzerland. The Court recognized the illegality of the infiltration and the infringement on the privacy of eight members of Attac.
In 2008, Swiss television reported that Nestlé had instructed Securitas to spy on members of Attac around the time of their planning meetings to protest the June 2003 G8 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France and later as the group started editing a book about the ‘Nestlé Empire’. Using a false identity, a Securitas agent infiltrated the group and compiled information on its members. A second spy was exposed in 2008.
Both companies have been order to pay 19,000 francs (about CDN $21,000) compensation.
The article can be read (in Italian) at http://www.swissinfo.ch/ita/rubriche/notizie_d_agenzia/mondo_brevi/Spionaggio_Attac:_Nestle_e_Securitas_condannate_da_giustizia_vodese.html?cid=34829248. A backgrounder on the case in English can be read at http://www.spinwatch.org/blogs-mainmenu-29/evel-spinoff-mainmenu-34/5041-nestle-infiltrates-attac-switzerland. Attac Switzerland’s media release commenting on the Civil Court’s ruling can be read (in French) at http://www.suisse.attac.org/Nestlegate-Gain-de-cause-au-civil,2867.
For Council of Canadians and Blue Planet Project blogs about Nestle, please see http://canadians.org/blog/?s=nestle.
