Look at his face. Emergildo Criollo, Chief of the Cofan people of the Amazon in Ecuador. Determined, dignified, in war paint, bare-chested... gregpalast.com/facing-prison-… #FreeDonziger 🧵
It was in 2007, when I found him in his thatched stilt home in the rainforest. Criollo told me his 3-year-old had jumped into a swimming hole, covered with an enticing shine. The shine was oil sludge, illegally dumped. His son came up vomiting blood and died in the Chief’s arms.
I followed Criollo to the courthouse in the dusty roustabout town of Lago Agrio (Bitter Lake) where, with a sheaf of papers, he sought justice for his son. gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
Behind Criollo, the court clerks, in their white shirts and ties, were giggling and grinning at each other, nodding toward this “indio” painted up and half naked, thinking he can file a suit against a giant. A giant named Chevron.
In 2011, they stopped laughing. That’s when an Ecuadorian court ordered Chevron to pay Criollo and other indigenous co-plaintiffs $9.5 billion. The courts found that Chevron’s Texaco operation had illegally dumped 16 billion gallons of deadly oil waste. gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
What the gigglers didn’t know is that the Chief had a secret weapon: @SDonziger, a US attorney, classmate of Barack Obama at Harvard law, who gave up everything — literally everything — to take on Criollo’s case. gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
It’s been a decade, and Chevron still hasn’t paid a dime. But Donziger has paid big time. Chevron set out to destroy Donziger, to make an example of a human rights lawyer that dares take on the petroleum pirates. gregpalast.com/facing-prison-… #FreeDonziger
Chevron filed suits against @SDonziger and found a former tobacco industry lawyer judge to find him in contempt for refusing to turn over his cell phone and computer to Chevron — an unprecedented attack on attorney-client privilege. #FreeDonziger
When @SDonziger said he’d appeal, the judge charged him with criminal contempt — that’s simply unprecedented. But a far more dangerous precedent was set... gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
When federal prosecutors in New York laughed off and rejected the judge’s demand that they charge Donziger, the judge appointed Chevron’s lawyers, Seward & Kissel, working with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, to act as the prosecutors! Say what? gregpalast.com/facing-prison-…
The first-ever criminal prosecution by a US corporation. This, by itself, is deeply, deeply, dangerous and I will not let them put @SDonziger behind bars without raising hell! #FreeDonziger
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