![]() ![]() ![]() courts and government agencies (as well as its effective intimidation of corporate media).īut as we turn to a new and better chapter, and rightly return the world’s focus to justice for Ecuador, let’s tally up all that Chevron “gained” for its efforts to criminalize, demonize, and silence Steven Donziger. In the U.S., this case exposes the staggering level of corruption and control the fossil fuel industry has over U.S. corporations, and specifically oil companies, and the complete lack of respect they have for the lives of Indigenous people and frontline communities where they carry out their operations. In Ecuador, this case exemplifies the level of impunity enjoyed by U.S. In fact, on the final day of Donziger’s sentence, ten Members of Congress sent a new letter to President Biden in support of a letter from Amnesty International, Greenpeace USA, Amazon Watch, and close to 200 other organizations, demanding he pardon Donziger immediately. Courts, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and President Biden. Members of Congress have sent several letters regarding this case to the Administrative Office of U.S. government to swiftly enact anti-SLAPP laws to protect those who speak out against corporate crimes. It demanded the Biden administration not only release him, but compensate him and launch an investigation into the circumstances that led to his detention - we hope that the Biden administration will eventually follow this recommendation and compensate Donziger for his wrongful confinement. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined Donziger’s detention to be a violation of his human rights and of international legal norms. The lead prosecutor was Rita Glavin of Seward & Kissel, and it was revealed during the trial that Chevron’s firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP donated hundreds, if not thousands of hours of several partners’ time to assist Glavin in the prosecution. Donziger was the victim of what’s been called the “first corporate criminal prosecution” in the United States: He was prosecuted not by the government, but by a private corporate law firm with direct ties to Chevron. Now, Steven Donziger is finally free of home detention after serving more than two and a half years in confinement for a petty misdemeanor contempt of court charge, which carries a maximum sentence of six months. It has deployed an array of tricks to escape justice - including bribery, intimidation, harassment, attacks on the free press, legal threats, lawsuits, and smear campaigns. Since then, Chevron has used its money and political influence to escape accountability, despite the fact that it lost a lengthy and decisive trial in Ecuador in 2011 and was ordered to pay $9.5 billion to clean up. Free After 993 Days: Environmental Lawyer Steven Donziger on Leaving House Arrest & His Fight with Chevron - Democracy Now! April 26, 2022Īs we all know: Chevron, formerly Texaco, is responsible for deliberately dumping at least 16 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964-1992 while it was the sole operator of oil fields there, creating an environmental disaster and causing decades of cancer and reproductive harm. ![]()
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