2021: Lawyer Who Battled #Chevron Over #Amazon #OilSpills Found Guilty of Contempt

In the protracted fight for accountability in #Ecuador’s Amazon, #StevenDonziger is a victim of #corporate retaliation, supporters say.

by Gabriela Barzallo, August 31, 2021

#Environmental lawyer Steven Donziger spent 25 years helping fight a million-dollar legal battle in the Ecuadorian Amazon against oil giant Chevron. But on July 26, a U.S. federal judge found him guilty of six counts of criminal contempt of court for withholding evidence in a long, complex legal fight.

"Having already served more than 700 days of house arrest, Donziger now awaits sentencing. He faces six months in jail as the culmination of a process he and his lawyers have called 'a charade.' Donziger was a fundamental part of the team of lawyers that sued Chevron in the early 1990s for toxic dumping in the Ecuadorian Amazon. After the case concluded in the affected communities’ favor in 2011, Chevron #countersued Donziger in the United States for alleged fraud in the Ecuadorian courts.

"'This is an outrageous decision,' Donziger said of his conviction. 'I see it as an attack on #HumanRights lawyering by the fossil fuel industry. It’s a violation for the rule of law and for our democracy."

#PeopleNotProfits #Pollution #ToxicWaste #EnvironmentalPollution #EnvironmentalRacism #ClimateActivists

Read more:
https://nacla.org/news/2021/08/25/ecuador-chevron-donziger