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Legal System

Campaigners Sued An Oil Major; Now The Company Is Preparing To Sue Them

August 28, 2023 Emily Sanders, DeSmog. , , ,
In May, NGOs and citizens sued Italian oil giant Eni for its decades of lobbying and greenwashing to delay climate action. Barely two months later, Eni has laid the groundwork for a lawsuit of its own, alleging it has been harmed by a “massive campaign” of “serious defamatory declarations.” The move is indicative of a worldwide escalation of a legal tactic intended to cow critics into silence: SLAPPs — or strategic lawsuits against public participation. Enmeshing activists in lengthy legal proceedings can drain their time and resources — a win for the company even if it loses in court.

Growing Number Of Countries Consider Making Ecocide A Crime

August 27, 2023 Isabella Kaminski, The Guardian. , , ,
A growing number of countries are considering introducing laws to make ecocide a crime. Mexico is the latest country where politicians are seeking to deter environmental damage – and to get justice for its victims – by criminalising it. Karina Marlen Barrón Perales, congresswoman for Nuevo León, has submitted a bill to the Mexican congress introducing a new crime of “ecocide”. While damaging the environment is already a civil offence in most countries, recognition of ecocide elevates the most egregious cases to a crime – with accompanying penalties.

Atlanta Prosector Fani Willis Sent Black Educators To Jail

August 26, 2023 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Who was Fani Willis protecting when she used Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute to put twelve Black educators on trial in 2015? Atlanta, like other major cities, was not caught up in the corrupt influence of racketeers, but of school test score mania. The No Child Left Behind Act punished school districts with low scores, putting them at risk of state takeovers, or of schools being closed. Educators in Georgia, 38 other states and the District of Columbia , succumbed to these pressures and changed test scores to give the appearance that children had reached educational attainment levels when they hadn’t.

Montana Youth Turned The Tables And Won An Unprecedented Climate Victory

August 25, 2023 Nick Engelfried, In These Times. , , ,
Over the first eight months of 2023, the catastrophic impacts from climate change have become tangible for millions of people. From massive Canadian wildfires to 100-degree ocean waters off Florida, to a rare hurricane hitting California, the signs of an overheating globe are everywhere. Amid such devastation, youth climate activists in Montana have scored a precedent-setting victory: for the first time in U.S. history a court has ruled young people have the right to a livable climate. In Held v. State of Montana, District Court Judge Kathy Seeley ruled the state must safeguard 16 young plaintiffs’ right to a ​“clean and healthful environment,” which is protected by Montana’s constitution.

Israel Is Influencing Prosecution Of Palestine Action Court Cases

August 24, 2023 Palestine Action. , , ,
As reported in the Guardian today, correspondence disclosed by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) shows the Israeli Embassy in London attempting to exert diplomatic influence on the prosecution of Palestine Action activists. The disclosures, made under the Freedom of Information Act, show correspondence between the Director General of the Attorney General’s Office, Doug Wilson, with representatives of the Israeli Embassy in London, over the period May 2022 to February 2023. While most of these representatives have their names redacted, we know that one is Oren Marmorstein, Deputy Ambassador of Israel to the UK.

The Media’s Role In Criminalizing Climate Protest

August 24, 2023 Amy Westervelt, Drilled. , , , ,
Before you can criminalize protest, you have to vilify the protesters. And to do that effectively, you need the media's help. Evlondo Cooper at Media Matters reviewed media coverage of climate protests in the U. S. from May 30th, 2022 to July 31st, 2023 for a new study. He documented a trend that we've been seeing too. Not only has the U. S. media perpetuated the idea that climate protesters are uniquely disruptive, and radical, but their general failure to cover anything about climate protest other than the disruption that they cause, further perpetuates this thinking. Evlondo's research found that while multiple national outlets have run stories about climate protesters being annoying and destructive, not a single broadcaster has run even one story on the fact that nearly half of the states in the U. S. have now passed laws criminalizing protest.

Venezuela Issues Arrest Warrant For Antonio Ledezma

August 23, 2023 Ariadna Eljuri, Orinoco Tribune. , , , ,
Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced that an arrest warrant was issued for the fugitive Antonio Ledezma due to his statements that called for deaths and confrontation between Venezuelans. “We have requested an arrest warrant for Antonio Ledezma for the crimes of treason, conspiracy, incitement to commit a crime, and association,” the prosecutor said at a press conference. In order to advance the proceedings, said Saab, national prosecutors #67 and #74, with full jurisdiction against organized crime, were appointed. At the press conference, he reported that technical expertise is being activated “for the purpose of requesting an arrest warrant against him.”

Assange Be Wary: The Dangers Of A US Plea Deal

August 18, 2023 Binoy Kampmark, Counter Punch. , , , ,
At every stage of its proceedings against Julian Assange, the US Imperium has shown little by way of tempering its vengeful impulses. The WikiLeaks publisher, in uncovering the sordid, operational details of a global military power, would always have to pay. Given the 18 charges he faces, 17 fashioned from that most repressive of instruments, the US Espionage Act of 1917, any sentence is bound to be hefty. Were he to be extradited from the United Kingdom to the US, Assange will disappear into a carceral, life-ending dystopia. In this saga of relentless mugging and persecution, the country that has featured regularly in commentary, yet done the least, is Australia. Assange may well be an Australian national, but this has generally counted for naught.

Charge Us With Contempt Too, Say 40 People, If Climate Activist Prosecuted

August 17, 2023 Sandra Laville, The Guardian. , , ,
Forty people, including an Olympic gold medallist and a former police officer, are calling on the solicitor general to charge them with contempt of court if he prosecutes a social worker for holding up a placard outside a climate trial. The solicitor general is weighing up whether to charge Trudi Warner, 68, with contempt of court for a protest outside a crown court that was hearing a trial relating to direct action by climate protesters. She held up a placard stating: “Jurors: you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.” Warner made the protest in March after a judge restricted defendants in a string of trials from mentioning the climate crisis, insulation or any motivation for their direct action.

Atlanta’s Appeal Of ‘Stop Cop City’ Referendum Denied

August 16, 2023 Dyana Bagby, Black Agenda Report. , , , , ,
Opponents of Atlanta’s planned public safety training center scored another victory today when a federal judge denied the city of Atlanta’s appeal  to try to halt the “Stop Cop City” referendum petition drive. The ruling comes as organizers with the Vote to Stop Cop City  coalition say they have collected nearly 80,000 signatures,  more than the 70,000 goal announced at the start of the campaign in June. U.S. District Court Judge Mark H. Cohen denied the city’s appeal of his ruling last month  to allow those living outside the city to collect signatures as part of the referendum petition campaign. His ruling on the preliminary injunction also extended the amount of time to collect signatures.

Biden Is Preparing To Crush A Historic Climate Change Lawsuit

August 16, 2023 Julia Rock, The Lever. , , ,
Any day now, a federal district court is expected to deliver a ruling that would allow a historic climate change lawsuit to proceed to trial. If and when the case moves forward, however, it faces a major obstacle: President Joe Biden’s Justice Department. The lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, was brought by 21 young plaintiffs in 2015 and seeks to establish a federal, constitutional right to a livable planet. If the case is successful, any federal policies that enable more fossil fuel development could be challenged as unconstitutional. But the Obama and Trump administrations both vehemently fought the lawsuit, and now those close to the case say that Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicated it will also use every procedural tool at its disposal to prevent the lawsuit from ever getting a trial.

Montana Youth Activists Win Historic Climate Change Lawsuit

August 15, 2023 Dana Drugmand, DeSmog. , , , ,
A Montana court ruled in favor of 16 young people who put their state government on trial in June in the first constitutional climate trial in U.S. history. In an order issued Monday, Judge Kathy Seeley in the First Judicial District Court of Montana found that the state had violated youth plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, including the right to a clean and healthful environment, because of Montana’s pro-fossil fuel policies, which require the state to disregard climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews. “As fires rage in the West, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today’s ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation’s efforts to save the planet from the devastating effects of human-caused climate chaos,” Julia Olson, chief legal counsel and executive director of Our Children’s Trust, said in a statement.

Juvenile Sentencing In The US Is Barbaric, Racist, And Ineffective

August 15, 2023 Mansa Musa, The Real News Network. , , , ,
“The United States is the only country in the world that permits youth to be sentenced to life without parole,” the Juvenile Law Center notes. “Sentencing children to die in prison is condemned by international law. For children or adults, a sentence of life without parole is cruel, inhumane, and denies the individual’s humanity. For children, the sentence also defies law and research confirming that youth are different than adults and must be treated differently by our legal system.” While many individual states have banned the practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life without parole, 22 states still permit it, and the conservative majority of the US Supreme Court has shown a troubling openness to overturning past precedents regarding juvenile sentencing.

Niger Junta To Prosecute President Bazoum For High Treason

August 14, 2023 Telesur English. , , ,
On Sunday, the perpetrators of the coup in Niger against President Mohamed Bazoum announced their intention to prosecute the ousted leader for high treason and undermining the country's security, in a statement read on national television. "So far, the government of Niger has gathered... evidence to prosecute the deposed president and his local and foreign accomplices before the competent national and international bodies for high treason and undermining Niger's internal and external security," said Major Colonel Amadou Abdramane. Hours earlier, the head of a religious delegation of mediators indicated that the leader of the military junta is ready to consider a diplomatic solution to the country's standoff with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc.

Portugal’s Novo Banco Ordered To Return $1.5 Billion To Venezuela

August 14, 2023 Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
Venezuelan authorities have announced that Portuguese courts have ruled in favor of Venezuela and ordered Novo Banco to return $1.5 billion illegally seized from accounts belonging to the Venezuelan government, following the failed 2019 US-led regime change operation that attempted to oust President Nicolás Maduro. “Breaking news: the Bolivarian [Venezuelan] government wins trial and recovers its assets in Portugal,” wrote the Venezuelan minister for communication and information, Freddy Ñáñez, officially disclosing Portugal’s judiciary decision via social media this Wednesday, August 9. “$1.5 billion were released by Novo Banco.”
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