Dear John,

Sign the petition: Steven Donziger exposed Chevron's illegal intentional pollution on tribal lands. Now, he's in jail. We demand that the Justice Department reviews human rights lawyer Steven Donziger’s case now!

Steven Donziger should be celebrated for his work to protect our environment and Indigenous communities. Instead, last month, he was sentenced to six months in prison by an ultra-conservative judge.¹

Chevron destroyed and poisoned Indigenous and poor communities in Ecuador’s Amazon by dumping 16 BILLION gallons of toxic oil onto Indigenous land.² After 18 years of fighting for accountability, the communities on the front lines of Chevron’s destruction and Donziger, a human rights lawyer, secured a historic win against Chevron when a judge ordered Chevron to pay over $9 billion for intentionally polluting the Amazon in Ecuador.³

Chevron responded by leaving Ecuador, refusing to clean the water and land it destroyed, and refusing to pay. Instead, Chevron and Big Oil allies have spent billions of dollars hiring dozens of law firms and over 2,000 lawyers to target and sue Donziger because of his important and successful work in defending vulnerable communities who are dying at the hands of the fossil fuel industry.⁴

Now, after after being subjected to two years of house arrest and potentially tens of millions in legal fees, Donziger was prosecuted by a law firm with ties to Chevron and ordered to report to jail.⁵ But here’s how we can fight back against this injustice: Together, we can demand that President Biden’s Justice Department intervene by reviewing Steven Donziger’s case.

Sign now: The Justice Department must intervene to review Steven Donziger's case immediately.

Sign Now

What happened to communities in Ecuador and to Steven Donziger is not new, though. Big Oil and fossil fuel giants like Chevron have stopped at nothing to evade accountability for destroying the Earth at the expense of Black, brown, and/or poor communities around the world. It’s horrifying and wrong.

No one should be targeted for exposing the destructiveness of the fossil fuel industry. Human rights experts at the United Nations and Amnesty International have called for Donziger’s immediate and unconditional release.⁶ It’s the right thing to do, and the Department of Justice must act now to review his case.

Help fight this injustice: Click here to sign this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks for all you do!

– MoveOn

P.S. This petition was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions. You can start your own petition to push for progressive change here.

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Sources:

1. “'Steven Donziger Was Imprisoned by the 1 Percent’s Favorite Judge” Jacobin, October 6, 2021 https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/10/steven-donziger-loretta-preska-law-corruption-courts-corporate-influence

2. "The Chevron-Ecuador Case Is Critical to the Climate Justice Movement," Amazon Watch, May 25, 2021 https://amazonwatch.org/news/2021/0525-the-chevron-ecuador-case-is-critical-to-the-climate-justice-movement

3. Ibid

4. "Steven Donziger, Lawyer Who Sued Chevron over Amazon Oil Spills, Marks 2 Years Under House Arrest," Democracy Now, August 6, 2021 https://www.democracynow.org/2021/8/6/steven_donziger_house_arrest_chevron

5. Ibid

6. "USA: Authorities must promptly implement UN decision and release Steven Donziger," Amnesty International, September 30, 2021 https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/4814/2021/en/

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG CIVIC ACTION, https://front.moveon.org/about-moveon-civic-action/, NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE.

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