Federal Judge Adds Torture and Cruel Treatment Claims to Upcoming Trial Against Chevron for Beating and Shooting of Nigerian Protestors
Trial Will Include Claims Under International Human
Rights Law Brought by Victims of 1998 Attack on Demonstrators at Chevron Offshore
Platform in Nigeria
San Francisco, June 2 - In a ruling issued late last Friday, United States
District Court Judge Susan Illston held that the beating and shooting of
Nigerian protestors at a Chevron offshore platform may constitute torture and
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under international human rights law, expanding
the upcoming trial in this case to include these claims.
Four Nigerian plaintiffs and their families are
suing Chevron in federal court in San Francisco
over a 1998 incident in which Nigerian military and police paid by Chevron and
using Chevron helicopters shot and tortured villagers who protested Chevron's
oil activities in the desperately poor Niger delta. Judge Illston
had previously ruled that the plaintiffs could proceed to trial on claims under
California
and Nigerian law, including wrongful death and assault and battery. The
new ruling confirms that there is evidence that these abuses also constitute
violations of international law.
"An important part of achieving justice
for these victims is affirming that they suffered abuses under international
human rights law," said plaintiffs’ counsel Marco Simons, Legal Director
at EarthRights International. "One of the victims' major
goals has always been to tell the truth about what they suffered, and the truth
is that they were victims of torture and other human rights abuses."
Finding evidence that Chevron’s Nigerian subsidiary "authorized or ratified the
alleged conduct at issue," the judge also affirmed that the oil giant was
subject to punitive damages at trial. "The
jury will have the opportunity not only to give some measure of redress to
these victims, but also to punish Chevron for its reprehensible conduct,"
said Lauren Teukolsky, an attorney at Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson &
Renick, LLP (HSKRR).
A jury trial in the case, Bowoto v.
Chevron Corp., No. 99-2506, is set for September 29, 2008. In addition to ERI
and HSKRR, the plaintiffs are represented by the private law firms of Traber
& Voorhees and Siegel & Yee; the Center for
Constitutional Rights; and Paul Hoffman, Cindy Cohn, Robert Newman,
Anthony DiCaprio, Michael Sorgen, and Richard Wiebe.
Click here to read the full text of the ruling.
Media Contacts: Ateqah
Khaki, Riptide Communications, 212-260-5000;
Marco Simons, EarthRights International, 917-696-3304
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