New York (AP) — An environmental lawyer who has campaigned for decades to hold Chevron accountable for oil pollution in the Ecuadorian rainforest allegedly violated a federal judge’s order related to the fight against energy giants. He was sentenced to six months in prison on Friday.
Judge Loretta A. Preska of the U.S. District Court, who ruled after a criminal insult trial in New York earlier this year, said Steven Donziger’s commitment to Ecuadorian clients and why. He said he did not justify his rebellion against the order.
“Mr. Donjiger’s crime is very serious,” Preska said in a trial in federal court in Manhattan. “Given Mr. Donjiger’s repeated and deliberate refusal to obey court orders, only the two-by-four column of the proverb between the eyes seems to instill respect in him.”
The prison term will be the culmination of Donjiger’s long downfall, which, if it is perhaps attractive, is considered a hero by some environmentalists for his work on behalf of the Ecuadorian people. Probably.
He has already been under house arrest in New York for over two years and has been banned due to his actions in this case. At a court hearing on Friday, he told the judge he was innocent and not sorry.
“I’ve been fighting through the law for almost 30 years to help the people of Ecuador,” he said. “Therefore, the actions I maintain today are ethical and legal, and I cannot express my remorse for what I am complaining about.”
Donjiger and other lawyers sued Texaco in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 farmers and indigenous peoples in the Amazon region of Ecuador for the pollution and health consequences of oil production. Chevron became a defendant when he acquired Texaco.
Chevron did not object to the pollution, but said that Ecuador’s state-owned oil company Petroecuador was primarily responsible for the damage and Texaco was released from responsibility after a $ 40 million cleanup.
An Ecuadorian court ordered Chevron to pay $ 9.5 billion, which was later revoked in New York by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
Kaplan also said Donjiger had been guilty of obstructing the judiciary, having testified that an Ecuadorian judge had received a bribe.
Preska was a court detective in July for opposition to Kaplan’s order in the case, including refusing to hand over documents and electronics requested by the court to determine if Donjiger was benefiting from the ruling against Chevron. He ruled that he had committed contempt. It is forbidden to do.
“Mr. Donjiger’s behavior has been a boring and whimsical pattern of behavior for most of the decade,” Preska said. “In our legal system, it was the most serious crime.”
Donjiger, 60, will remain under house arrest for now if his lawyer demands a prompt appeal of his conviction within a week.
Donjiger sought release. He said his captivity cost him a lot of money for his wife and his son, who were just starting high school. He said his son “suffered quietly for a significant 15% of his life as a concomitant result of my house arrest.”
Defendant lawyer Ron Kuby asked Preska to look at the proceedings “through the eyes of Ecuadorian villagers” damaged by oil drilling, but Preska said the contempt case was not about Ecuadorian pollution. “Only about Mr. Donjiger’s disobedience to Judge Kaplan’s orders,” he said.
Rita Gravin, a special counsel in the case, said: Don Jigger knew what he was doing at every stage of the road. His behavior was not appropriate and it was certainly not ethical. “
A message asking for comment has been sent to Chevron.
Lawyer who fought Chevron is sentenced to 6 months for insult | WGN Radio 720
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