(April 8): Telenor ASA is facing a lawsuit in Norway over sharing data with authorities in Myanmar from its local customers who were suspected of opposing the 2021 coup.
Justice and Accountability Initiative, a Swedish non-profit organisation, filed a civil class action suit against the Norwegian telecommunications firm before Asker and Baerum District Court, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the claimants, the release of sensitive information by Telenor was followed by the execution of one prominent Myanmar government opponent and the political prosecution and jailing of another, it said.
“Based on what we have heard through the media, there is nothing in this potential lawsuit that has not already been addressed, and in our view it is unlikely that such a claim will succeed,” a spokesman with Telenor said by email.
The company agreed to sell its mobile operations in Myanmar to M1 Group for US$105 million in 2021 following a military takeover. It said at the time that the situation had become challenging for people security, regulatory and compliance reasons and a sale of the company was the best possible solution.
Telenor said on Wednesday that refusing requests from the military authorities in Myanmar could, in the worst case, have led to imprisonment, torture or the death penalty, and the company couldn’t play “Russian roulette with the lives of our employees”.
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The case is filed by the Norwegian law firm Simonsen Vogt Wiig and supported by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations and the Open Society Justice Initiative.
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