(Reuters) — Swedish prosecutors Thursday brought charges against the chairman and former CEO of Lundin Energy for complicity in war crimes carried out by the Sudanese army and allied militia in southern Sudan from 1999 to 2003.

Prosecutors said the company had asked the Sudanese government to secure a potential oilfield, knowing this would mean seizing the area by force. This made the executives complicit in war crimes that were then carried out by the Sudanese army and allied militia against civilians.

“What constitutes complicity in a criminal sense is that they made these demands despite understanding or, in any case being indifferent to, the military and the militia carrying out the war in a way that was forbidden according to international humanitarian law,” the prosecutors' authority said in a statement.

Sweden launched an investigation in 2010 following a report on Lundin's presence in Sudan by the Dutch non-governmental organization PAX, which has called for an investigation of the company's role in human rights abuses there.

Sweden-based Lundin Energy said in a statement that it rejected any grounds for allegations of wrongdoing. It identified the indicted executives as Chairman Ian Lundin and former CEO Alex Schneiter, now a board member. The company, known as Lundin Oil until 2001, sold its Sudan business in 2003.

Ian Lundin's lawyer Torgny Wetterberg said Thursday his client was innocent: "The prosecutor will never be able to reach convictions. The prosecution is deficient on every point."

Mr. Schneiter's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

The prosecutors also filed a claim to confiscate 1.39 billion crowns ($161.7 million) from Lundin Energy, corresponding to the profit the company made from the sale of the Sudan business in 2003. The company said it would contest this claim.

The company, whose shares closed down almost 5% Thursday, also said Ian Lundin would not stand for re-election as chairman at its next annual general meeting.