WE NEED MORE ENVIRONMENTAL HEROES LIKE STEVEN DONZIGER TO
FIGHT THE BULLIES LIKE CHEVRON & FORCE THEM TO CLEAN UP THEIR
MESSES!
I want to update you on the latest positive development in our campaign for a presidential pardon.
This week, Amnesty International – probably the world’s leading human rights group – urged its 2 million members around the world to write President Biden to DEMAND he immediately issue me a pardon.
It’s hard to explain how monumental this is.
Of the thousands of political prisoners in the world – obviously all worthy of protection – Amnesty International chose my case as one to focus on. The reason is simple: I am the only person in the world ever prosecuted and jailed directly by an oil company.
In 2019, I was forced into an arbitrary detention at home and in prison for almost three years. My detention was condemned as illegal by the United Nations, three federal judges, and hundreds of prominent lawyers worldwide.
Steven just minutes after release from federal prison in December 2021.
Chevron retaliated against me after I worked for two decades to help the Amazon communities of Ecuador win a landmark $10 billion pollution case against the company – a case that is still ongoing.
Yet I still cannot travel, work, or hold a bank account.
I have not seen my clients in 5 years. I’m not really free, even though my illegal detention ended two years ago.
Worst of all, Chevron has the right to try to force me back into prison on a moment's notice. I live with this fear daily.
It is your ongoing support that actually provides me the most protection. Without it, I might not have made it this far given the level of vitriol that Chevron and its 63 law firms threw at me.
Amnesty uses the urgent action mechanism “to defend people under immediate threat of grave human rights abuse.”
I’m under threat, yes. My human rights are being violated every minute of every day by a major oil company with the complicity of our own government.
And make no mistake: what is happening to me is part of a broader trend by corporations to try to manipulate the justice system to silence human rights defenders.
That is why it is so important for President Biden to act urgently — not just for me, but for the broader human rights and climate justice movements.
Amnesty's support of my pardon request is a massive development. But to keep up the momentum, we need your help now.
This month, a donor agreed to TRIPLE any donation up to a maximum of $75,000 raised. We only have a few days left to take advantage of this extraordinarily generous offer.
Will you please donate now so we can have three times the impact?
It is an absolute legal and moral imperative that my full rights be restored immediately — and that all human rights defenders be protected from corporate abuse.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the President to demonstrate his support for climate justice, human rights, and the rule of law.
Let’s make it happen!
With gratitude,
Steven Donziger |
|
Steven Donziger is a U.S. human rights attorney who helped communities in Ecuador’s Amazon win a historic multibillion-dollar pollution judgment against Chevron for the dumping of billions of gallons of cancer-causing oil waste onto Indigenous ancestral lands. Since the judgment issued in 2013, Chevron has used dozens of law firms and 2000 lawyers to carry out a demonization campaign targeting Steven to send a message of intimidation to all environmental advocates. Steven served 993 days of detention at home and in prison after being prosecuted directly by a Chevron law firm in the nation's first corporate prosecution; he still faces the threat of additional jail time after he appealed an order to turn over confidential information held by his Indigenous clients.
Donate NOW to help support Steven as he and the Ecuadorian communities continue their fight for corporate accountability, environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and Free Speech.
All funds are administered by the Friedman Rubin law firm in Seattle. Funds are used to pay legal fees and Steven’s basic household and work expenses given that Chevron has taken his law license. DONATE NOW |
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.