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Human rights lawyer sentenced to prison despite UN order to release him immediately

Human rights lawyer Steven Donziger has been sentenced to prison for 6 months — punishment for winning a $9 billion judgment against Chevron for destroying the Amazon with oil sludge — and literally killing Cofan indigenous people, Donziger’s clients.

Greg Palast, who investigated the oil poisoning in Ecuador for BBC, reports from the courthouse as Donziger is sentenced — despite an order to release Donziger by the United Nations Human Rights Commission judicial panel.

Amazon Watch, 60 Nobel Prize winners, the bar associations of a dozen nations, the UN, have all called for an end to this political prosecution. Extraordinarily, the US Justice Dept. would not prosecute Donziger, so the judge, a known right-wing zealot, hired a lawyer whose firm represented Chevron, to conduct the prosecution — and denied Donziger a jury trial.

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Zach D Roberts is an investigative photojournalist who covers far-right extremism and voter suppression in America. He covered the Unite the Right Rally in Chalottesville and his work there helped put four white extremists in jail. He co-produced Greg Palast's films The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Vigilante: Georgia's Vote Suppression Hitman. Roberts is a Palast Investigative Fund Fellow and Puffin artist grant recipient.

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