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