Justice In Nigeria Now

Democracy Now Landmark Trial Against Chevron Begins Over Its Role in the Niger Delta

Democracy Now interviews Laura Livoti, Founder of Justice in Nigeria Now, and Omoyele Sowore, longtime Nigerian human rights activist, and plays an excerpt of Democracy Now!‘s award-winning documentary, Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria’s Oil Dictatorship Go to Audio/Video

SF Chronicle, Opening Arguments in Chevron Trial

Chevron Corp. unleashed a “notoriously brutal and vicious” Nigerian military force on peaceful protesters at an offshore oil rig in 1998, a lawyer for a group of villagers accusing the company of human-rights violations told jurors in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Two men were killed and two were wounded by shots fired by troops summoned by Chevron’s Nigerian subsidiary on the fourth day of a confrontation with more than 100 villagers. Jurors assessing the plaintiffs’ claims of assault, torture and wrongful death must decide whether to believe their description of a nonviolent demonstration or Chevron’s account of a violent hostage-taking.   Go to Article

LA Times Trial gets underway in human rights case against Chevron

Opening statements began Tuesday in a trial over whether Chevron Corp. colluded with the Nigerian military in 1998, when troops broke up a protest at an offshore oil rig, killing two villagers.

The suit was brought under a federal law that allows foreigners to sue American companies for alleged human rights violations in other countries. The case in U.S. District Court is being closely watched by human rights advocates seeking to hold U.S. corporations accountable for their actions overseas.  Go to Article

Reuters U.S. court told Chevron paid forces in Nigeria clash

Chevron Corp fed, housed and paid Nigerian military forces involved in a deadly clash with local residents occupying an oil platform more than a decade ago, a jury was told on Tuesday at a federal trial in which the oil company is accused of human rights abuses. Go to Article

Houston Chronicle Chevron blamed in Nigeria deaths

Chevron Corp. is responsible for the deaths, injuries and torture of unarmed Nigerians attacked in 1998 on an offshore drilling platform by soldiers summoned by the second-largest U.S. oil company, an attorney told a jury Tuesday. Go to Article

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Though the SF Chronicle and Huffington Post stories from the weekend still provide the best background, the start of the trial and rally attracted a wide variety of media coverage:

ABC 7 Many protest outside Chevron gas station

A Conflict that began 10 years ago on a Nigerian oil platform continues in a San Francisco courtroom. It happened about nine miles off the Nigerian coast. Now Chevron is being sued in federal court over how it resolved a hostage situation between its workers and local Nigerians who boarded that platform.  Go to Video

CBS 5 Nigerian and U.S. Human Rights Groups Protest at Chevron Station

An alliance of grassroots human rights groups from Nigeria and the U.S. gathered at a Chevron gas station in San Francisco today to show support for the Nigerian plaintiffs in a federal human rights trial that began today.

Organizers from Global Exchange, Justice in Nigeria Now, and West County Toxics Coalition, based in Contra Costa County, gathered about 100 anti-Chevron protesters in front of the company’s gas station at 9th and Howard streets in San Francisco early this afternoon. Go to Video

KCBS Chevron Goes on Trial in San Francisco Federal Court

A federal trial began Monday to determine if San Ramon-based Chevron was responsible for a deadly clash between Nigerian forces and locals occupying an oil platform ten years ago.

The trial in San Francisco federal court concerns the death of one protestor and the injury of several others who shut down the Parabe platform for three days before armed forces flew in on a Chevron contractor’s helicopters to respond. Go to Audio

SF Chronicle Jury Seated in Chevron Trial

… In court today, Chevron won permission to offer evidence of an alleged hostage-taking incident that it says supports its overall version of events. As Nigerian forces were shooting at some of the protesters, the company says, other villagers swam to a Chevron Nigeria tugboat and forced seven employees to take the craft to a village, where they were held captive for three days.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the incident, if it ocurred, was irrelevant to the questions of whether the shootings were justified and whether Chevron was responsible. But U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said the company could present the incident to try to show that the entire protest was a violent takeover. Go to Article

Reuters Chevron on trail for 1998 platform clash

… The dispute fits into a broader political discussion about the responsibilities of U.S. companies abroad. The head of a Senate subcommittee on human rights and the law argued last month at a hearing on corporate responsibility and natural resources that the issue was not “black and white.”

“There is no doubt that American oil, gas and mining companies operating in countries with poor human rights records face difficult challenges in protecting their employees and operations,” Sen. Richard Durbin said.

“However, when American companies choose to go into these countries, they assume a moral and legal obligation to ensure that security forces protecting their operations do not commit human rights abuses.” Go to Article

Law.com: Judge: Chevron Must Remove Paid Google Link Tied to Search of Plaintiff’s Name

A widely watched trial over Chevron’s Nigerian operations featured a new online frontier Monday in the battle to influence the hearts and minds of potential jurors.

While imposing a general gag order, Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston ordered Chevron to take down a paid Google link sponsored by the company. Plaintiffs objected to the link, which directed Internet surfers to a Chevron-created Web site that provided information about the incident at issue in trial. Go to Article

Oil & Gas Journal Chevron on trial in San Francisco for rights abuses

Chevron Corp. is at the center of a legal case before federal court in San Francisco that will ask jurors to decide whether the firm sanctioned human rights abuses that resulted in the deaths and injuries of protesters at its Nigerian facilities, or whether the company was simply protecting its employees from belligerent kidnappers.

The lawsuit—identified as Bowoto vs. Chevron, No. C99-2506SI (N.D. Calif.)—alleges that Chevron, in conjunction with the Nigerian military, engaged in torture, assaults, and the killing of two protesters over Chevron’s environmental record and its failure to hire locals in the delta region near its oil drilling operations. Go to Article

Market Watch: Amazon Defense Coaltion: High-Stakes Trial in San Francisco Focuses Attention on Chevron’s Growing Human Rights Problems Around Globe

Chevron’s recent high-profile hiring of William J. Haynes, a former Bush Administration lawyer implicated in the torture scandal at Guantanamo Bay, is the latest sign that Chevron’s legal department has become increasingly callous to human rights concerns, said Kevin Koenig, an organizer with Amazon Watch, which monitors the company’s human rights and environmental record. Go to Article

Market Watch: Amazon Watch: Chevron Asked to Disclose Relationship to Pat Murphy

The environmental group Amazon Watch today called on Chevron and the San Francisco-based writer Pat Murphy to divulge their financial relationship in light of disclosures that Murphy’s website accepts fees for editorial control of news articles written under Murphy’s byline. Go to Article

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Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Larry Bowoto’s left arm is still scarred and numb where a soldier’s bullet struck it in 1998 while he was aboard a Chevron oil platform in Nigeria. During the course of the incident, Bowoto was shot several more times, another man was wounded and yet another was killed. Go to Article

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Take the Day Off, Call in Sick, and Show Your Support for Nigerian Villagers Shot by Chevron

On October 27th, the 1st day of a landmark jury trial against Chevron in San Francisco, tell the company that you will not tolerate their human rights abuses in Nigeria or anywhere!

Join us at the Chevron gas station at the corner of 9th and Howard in San Francisco (1298 Howard St) in solidarity with Nigerian plaintiffs who are in Federal court nearby

from 12pm-1pm

Bring your friends and co-workers

Then: After the rally we encourage you to go to the San Francisco Federal courthouse at 450 Golden Gate, 19th floor Courtroom 10 to quietly and peacefully observe the proceedings brought by Nigerian villagers against Chevron from 1:30-3:30pm starting on October 27 and every day of the trial. (Monday through Thursday 8:30-3:30) Please note: This is NOT a “silent protest” it’s simply an act to show your support for the Nigerian plaintiffs with your presence. (Government issued ID required to enter the Federal Building)

For More Information Contact: info@JusticeInNigeriaNow.org or 415 575 5521 or go to: www.ChevWrong.org

This event is co-sponsored by:

Amazon Watch, Global Exchange, Rainforest Action Network Food and Water Watch , People’s Health Movement , Hesperian Foundation , Other Worlds, West County Toxics, Communities for a Better Environment, Burmese American Democratic Alliance, Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity, Asian Pacific Environmental Network – Laoian Organizing Project

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Justice In Nigeria Now! (JINN) is a San Francisco-based organization working in solidarity with communities in Nigeria and allies in the U.S. to encourage and require multinational corporations based in the United States to operate in manner that respects human rights, protects and cleans up the environment and enhances the standard of living in the communities from which resources are extracted.

Part of JINN’s work is to bring public awareness to two law suits against Chevron Corp. happening this September in State and Federal Court in San Francisco, CA.

Chevron has been charged with gross human rights abuses associated with its oil production activities in Nigeria. The lawsuits are based on a 1998 incident in which Nigerian soldiers shot nonviolent protesters at Chevron’s Parabe offshore platform. The soldiers, who are routinely paid by Chevron, were ferried to the platform in Chevron helicopters and supervised by Chevron personnel. Two protesters were killed in the brutal attack and others were injured. One protester was subsequently tortured by the Nigerian authorities based on Chevron’s claim that he was a pirate. In a recent ruling in the case, a U.S. District Court judge found evidence that Chevron’s personnel “were directly involved” in this attack, transporting the soldiers despite knowing that they were “prone to use excessive force,” and concluded that the evidence would allow a jury to find not only that Chevron assisted the soldiers knowing that they would attack the protestors, but also that Chevron actually agreed to the military’s plan. A jury trial is scheduled in the federal case for September 2008. Chevron is also facing a California state court trial in the Fall, which seeks a court order to end the practices that led to the 1998 attack and to other incidents of abuse involving the Nigerian security forces in the service of Chevron.

For more information on the case visit: http://www.earthrights.org/ or http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/bowoto-v.-chevron

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