Friday 3 May 2024
On Friday 3 May, Lawyers Are Responsible joined international calls for a presidential pardon of American attorney Steven Donziger.
Donziger was subjected to a vicious private prosecution and arbitrary detention by Oil company Chevron after helping Amazon communities win a landmark $10 billion case. The UN, 68 Nobel Laureates, Amnesty International, and three US judges have condemned the prosecution.
On March 15, 2024, 14 US Attorneys delivered a detailed letter to President Joe Biden, that details Chevron’s private prosecution against Steven Donziger, and calls for his immediate presidential pardon.
On Friday 3 May, Lawyers Are Responsible delivered a letter to the US ambassador to the UK, Karen Pierce at the US embassy in London, the letter urged the ambassador to “impress upon President Biden the urgency of granting pardon to Steven Donziger”, as well as to “publicly call for an impartial investigation into Mr Donziger’s treatment, as was deemed necessary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.” Copies of Lawyers Are Responsible’s letter were also handed to the US ambassador to Ireland today at an event today in Dublin, and to the UK ambassador to the US.
A spokesperson for Lawyers Are Responsible said:
“We are in the midst of a climate and ecological crisis, and the weaponization of law by powerful corporations to discredit and imprison environmental defenders – in the way Chevron has done with its prosecution of Steven Donziger – is a deeply concerning trend worldwide. We need a legal system that serves the interests of life, not corporate fossil fuel interests, we therefore urge President Biden to pardon Steven Donziger, and send a message that the private corporate prosecution of environmental defenders will not be tolerated.”
To sign a petition to support the pardon, please click here.
Read the full letter here: