The Steven Donziger Case
If screenwriters are looking for some easy material, the case of Steven Donziger basically writes itself. Donziger led a case against Chevron on behalf of 30,000 Indigenous people and farmers in the Amazon for widespread pollution of local water and environment. What’s more, he won the Ecuadorian court battle in a dramatic fashion: it was the biggest environmental human rights judgment in history.
Since the ruling, Chevron has refused to pay the ordered fine. Instead, it used the U.S. court system in unprecedented and troubling ways to come after Donziger, using a network of hand-picked and industry-friendly attorneys and judges. Donziger spent two years on house arrest before even facing a trial. The United Nations has gone so far as to call his house arrest illegal under international law and called for his release in September. The judge didn’t listen, and Donziger was sentenced to a six-month prison sentence in October.
