the Ruling Against the environmental group Greenpeace Al -Da`wah groups have described that they find them responsible for the huge damages of the pipeline company on protests as a “legal system” and “assault” of freedom of expression and protest.
A Northern Dakota The jury decided on Wednesday that Greenpece You will have to pay at least $ 660 million To the pipeline company, the energy transportation company is responsible for defamation and other claims for protests in the state in 2016-2017.
Rebecca Brown, President and CEO of the International Environmental Law Center (CIEL) issued a statement highlighting the threat posed by the decision to freedom of expression and the right to protest. She says that the ruling is “an attack on the sovereign rights of Standing Rock Sioux and all the original peoples who defend their lands and their water. This issue is an example of textbooks on the institutional weapons of the legal system to silence the societies and intimidate societies.”
Customer, non -profit institution and partner GreenpeaceHe said that the ruling highlighted the increasing trend of great pollutants who use the legal system for intimidation and silence critics and that companies want to send a message that “there is no organization that challenges polluted industries safe” in a statement on social media.
Janet Alcier, the tribal president of the Stand Rock Six tribe, said in a statement that the transformation of energy was “in a trivial defamation and the search for financial damage, designed to close all permanent rock supporters.”
The statement said: “The issue is an attempt to silence our tribe about the truth of what happened in Rokans Rock, and the threat that Double posed to our land, our waters and our people. The tribe of the permanent rocks will not be silent.”
The power transfer lawyer said during the case, Trey Cox, that the verdict showed that Greenpeace’s actions were illegal. “It is also a day celebrating the constitution, case Northern Dakota And the transfer of energy, “he said after the decision.
Kevin Kramer, the Republican Senator in North Dakota, celebrated the judgment on social media, and writes: “Today, justice was made with Greenpis and her radical environmental comrades who encouraged this devastating behavior during the Dakota pipeline protests with their appetite and wrong allegations about the pipeline” in a publication on X.
However, experts and non -profit groups expressed the warning of the ruling and what constitutional rights in the United States.
Earthrights, another non -profit non -governmental group, says that Dakota arrives pipeline The protests were “largely peaceful” and that the organization “proudly joins Greenpeace USa in speaking against harsh legal attacks and ensuring that the environmental movement is still increasing, despite the horrific result in North Dakota.”
The issue is described by legal experts as a classic example on Slapp – a form of civil litigation that has been increasingly published by companies, politicians and wealthy individuals to wear and silence critics, including journalists, activists and monitoring groups. These cases often lead to great legal costs for the defendants, which are seen as a “victory” of the suiting entity even if they do not win the lawsuit.
The International Environmental Organization has described 350.org against Greenpeace as “a devastating legal rule.”
“This ruling is a blatant attempt to silence the opposition and crush the strength of popular activity,” the group said in a statement. “It sends a dangerous message: that the fossil fuel giants can weap the courts to silence those who unite the destruction of our planet.”
They also warn that the fossil fuel industry is increasingly turning into “Lawfare” – the use of courts and legal procedures as weapons to intimidation.
“In the face of climatic emergency, it is unreasonable for organizations committed to protecting our planet from the destructive consequences of extracting fossil fuels in this way.
“Since the world is struggling under the weight of the existential climate crisis, it cannot be right for environmental defenders to be silenced by a weapons legal system.”
Greenpeace says he plans to appeal the ruling, and some legal experts say they have a good issue to do so. The appeal will go directly to the state’s Supreme Court, as North Dakota has no court at the appeal level.
Kelcy Warren, the founder of the billionaire at Energy Transfer, is a major donor to Donald Trump.
