'Appalled' UN Human Rights Experts Urge Immediate Release, Compensation for Donziger

Steven Donziger, a human rights lawyer working of behalf of Ecuadorians harmed by decades of Texaco-Chevron's oil drilling and dumping of toxic wastewater in the Amazon rainforest, speaks at a press conference on March 19, 2014 in Quito. (Photo: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images)

Ahead of Steven Donziger's sentencing scheduled for Friday, five United Nations human rights experts ruled that the American attorney who won a multibillion-dollar judgment against Chevron in Ecuadorian courts has been "arbitrarily" detained in the U.S. for 787 days.

Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía (FDA)—the Ecuadorian organization that spearheaded the case against Chevron on behalf of Indigenous people impacted by decades of oil pollution in the Amazon—revealed the experts' recent conclusions about Donziger's detention in a statement Wednesday.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, made up of independent experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, said that it was "appalled by uncontested allegations in this case," noting that the U.S. government did not respond to its request for input.

Given the details made available, the working group called on the U.S. government to "take the steps necessary to remedy the situation of Mr. Steven Donziger without delay and bring it in conformity with the relevant international norms, including those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."

"Taking into account all the circumstances of the case," the working group said, "the appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Steven Donziger immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law."

The experts also urged the U.S. government to "ensure a full and independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of Mr. Steven Donziger and to take appropriate measures against those responsible for the violation of his rights."

Martin Garbus, who leads Donziger's legal team with Ron Kuby, said that "this is an extremely significant and courageous decision by five international jurists who confirm what we have been saying for over two years: Steven Donziger has been subject to an illegal detention orchestrated by Chevron and two ideologically driven trial judges who are retaliating against him for winning a major pollution judgment in Ecuador against a powerful U.S. corporation."

After the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York declined to prosecute Donziger for contempt charges—some of which result from the lawyer's refusal to comply with a court order to turn over his electronic devices containing client information to Chevron—U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan appointed a private law firm to prosecute him and handpicked U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska to preside over the case.

Preska—who is affiliated with the Chevron-funded Federalist Society—denied Donziger's request for a jury trial and in July found him guilty of six counts of criminal contempt of court. Donziger can be sentenced on Friday to at most six months behind bars, only a fraction of the time he has spent confined to his Manhattan home with an ankle monitor on the judge's orders.

"We are calling on Judge Preska to release Steven immediately pending the outcome of his appeal, where we fully expect him to be exonerated," said Garbus, who has previously represented the late South African President Nelson Mandela and American whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.

"We also will open up communications with the U.S. government to ensure that the U.N. decision is fully implemented," Garbus added. "At a minimum, that will involve removing Judges Preska and Kaplan, releasing Steven, dismissing the charges, and investigating how this type of corporate abuse of our judicial system could have happened."

Some progressive U.S. lawmakers have suggested that Donziger's case proves a need for urgent reforms regarding the use of private prosecutors. Others have expressed concerns about the "unprecedented nature" of the case and the "deeply concerning" process by which it played out, urging U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to launch a full investigation.

The Intercept reported Wednesday that Garland has yet to respond to that call while top Democrats including House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler of New York have stayed silent and "harbor close ties to the law firms defending Chevron: chief among them Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, the corporate firm where Nadler's son is an associate."

While neither Chevron nor Gibson Dunn responded to The Intercept's requests for comment, and a spokesperson for Nadler said only that he does not comment on ongoing cases and his son has no role in this one, Donziger called out the congressman.

"Jerry Nadler's silence reflects a sad lack of commitment to human rights protections in the United States of America," Donziger said. "Worse, it appears to be the result of rank hypocrisy: His son works at the same Chevron law firm that has reaped massive fees for attacking me and trying to ruin my life, which is in and of itself a gross human rights violation."

Supporters of Donziger—including his attorneys, musician and activist Roger Waters, and former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson—plan to rally outside a New York City courthouse on Friday at 8:30 am ET ahead of the sentencing.

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