{"id":337549,"date":"2021-10-05T14:29:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T14:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=2ce238d6dd0da9a4e066b54729519064"},"modified":"2021-10-05T14:29:12","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T14:29:12","slug":"human-rights-attorney-sentenced-to-prison-after-winning-case-against-chevron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/10\/05\/human-rights-attorney-sentenced-to-prison-after-winning-case-against-chevron\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Attorney Sentenced to Prison After Winning Case Against Chevron"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Attorney<\/a>

In a move calculated to shield Chevron and deter other lawyers from suing giant corporate polluters, U.S. human rights attorney Steven Donziger was sentenced on October 1 to the maximum of six months in prison for criminal contempt. Donziger, who had won a $9.5 billion judgement for his Indigenous clients against the oil giant for polluting the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador, refused to provide Chevron with his confidential client communications. Before his sentencing, Donziger spent two years on house arrest wearing an ankle bracelet and confined to his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the next book is written touting the American judicial system as one built on the rule of law, that shows the ways in which the rule of law prevailed over powerful and moneyed interests,\u201d Donziger attorney Ron Kuby told Truthout <\/em>after the sentencing, \u201cI can assure you the Donziger case will not be included.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska — a leader of the Federalist Society, a group dedicated to getting conservatives on the bench and promoting a radical right-wing ideology (and which is financially backed by Chevron) — was hand-picked to try the contempt case. She found Donziger guilty of six counts of criminal contempt. As Preska sentenced Donziger, she stated<\/a>, \u201cIt seems that only the proverbial two-by-four between the eyes will instill in him any respect for the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Truthout<\/em> asked attorney Martin Garbus, who also represents Donziger, for his reaction to the judge\u2019s six-month sentence and threatening words, he replied: \u201cOutrageous. Predictable. Very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donziger is the only lawyer who has been held in criminal contempt for trying to appeal orders which he believed violated the rights of his clients to enforce the judgment.<\/p>\n

Chevron Responsible for Pouring of Billions of Gallons of Oil Waste Onto Indigenous Ancestral Lands<\/h2>\n

Donziger has spent over two decades trying to hold Chevron accountable for pollution of the Ecuadorian rainforest. In 2000, Chevron acquired Texaco, which had contaminated the water and soil in Ecuador\u2019s Lago Agrio region between 1964 and 1992. Lago Agrio is the ancestral homeland of more 30,000 people. Texaco deliberately drained its toxic waste into rivers and streams whose water was critical to the survival of five Indigenous groups and dozens of farm communities. Texaco created what is known as the \u201cAmazon Chernobyl.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2011, an Ecuadorian court found Chevron liable for serious environmental and health damage to the Amazon rainforest and the communities in the region. The court concluded<\/a> that Chevron deliberately discharged billions of gallons of oil waste onto Indigenous ancestral lands.<\/p>\n

Chevron was ordered to pay $19 billion to remediate the damages but an appellate court reduced the judgement to $9.5 billion, which was affirmed by the Ecuadorian Supreme Court<\/p>\n

\u201cI, with other lawyers, helped Indigenous peoples in Ecuador win a historic $9.5bn pollution judgement against Chevron for the deliberate dumping of billions of gallons of cancer-causing waste into the Amazon,\u201d Donziger told<\/a> Al Jazeera <\/em>before his sentencing. \u201cThat\u2019s an historical fact. That case has been affirmed on appeal by 28 appellate judges, including the highest courts of Ecuador and Canada for enforcement purposes. So why am I the one being locked up? I helped hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Lewis Kaplan Manipulates Case to Benefit Chevron<\/h2>\n

\u201cJudge Kaplan picked the charges, picked the private prosecutors, picked the judge, and remained a judge on the case,\u201d Kuby and Garbus wrote in their sentencing memorandum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur L[ong] T[erm] strategy is to demonize Donziger,\u201d Chevron stated<\/a> in 2009. Aided and abetted by Judge Lewis Kaplan, Chevron made good on its promise.<\/p>\n

In 2011, at Kaplan\u2019s suggestion<\/a>, Chevron sued the Indigenous plaintiffs and their lawyers, including Donziger, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York under the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a law designed to target the mafia. Two weeks before trial in 2014, Chevron dropped its demand for $60 billion damages to prevent Donziger from receiving a jury trial.<\/p>\n

Kaplan, who did nothing to hide his explicit bias in favor of Chevron throughout the proceedings<\/a>, presided over the RICO case. Kaplan ruled that the $9.5 billion judgment the Indigenous plaintiffs had won against Chevron could not be enforced in the United States.<\/p>\n