A U.S. civil-rights suit launched by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan and a coalition of Sudanese refugee groups against Talisman Energy of Calgary and the Government of Sudan will be able to proceed.

Carey D’Avino, the Philadelphia lawyer spearheading the action, has told rabble.ca that Justice Allen Schwartz of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled today that the lawsuit — filed initially in 2001 and amended last year — can go ahead.

Talisman vigorously denies the charges.

The suit accuses the oil company of being complicit with atrocities allegedly carried out by the government of Sudan. These include “extra-judicial killing (murder and summary execution), forced displacement, military bombings and assaults on civilian targets, confiscation and destruction of property, kidnappings, rape and slavery, related to or arising from the oil exploration and extraction activities of Defendants Talisman Energy, Inc. and the Republic of Sudan.”

Talisman has argued that the lawsuit should be thrown out, partly because the company was pulling out of Sudan and selling its holdings to an Indian oil company.

According to D’Avino, the judge ruled in a 109-page decision that Talisman can be held liable for aiding and abetting violations of international law.

Mel Middleton, whose small human-rights group in Trochu, Alberta — Freedom Quest — has been fighting to make Talisman accountable for actions in Sudan, says he’s elated. “Thank God,” he said when contacted for reaction.

Edmonton Liberal MLA Bill Bonner says that the lawsuit is going ahead is “great news.” Bonner has been after Alberta’s Klein government to look at its investments in Talisman Energy because of the allegations in the suit.

Talisman has not been available for comment.