Shell on trial

[IndianaGreen]

Related thread posted by CHIMO (a must read!):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=450785

Shell on trial

Oil giant in the dock over 1995 murder of activist who opposed environmental degradation of Niger Delta

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Royal Dutch Shell will revisit one of the darkest periods of its history tomorrow as a potentially groundbreaking court case opens in New York.

The oil giant stands accused of complicity in the 1995 execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian environmental activist.

The world's boardrooms are watching the case, which is seen as a test of whether transnational companies owned or operating in the US can be held responsible for human rights abuses committed abroad.

A collection of cases brought by torture victims in the oil-rich Niger Delta and by relatives of those killed has been brought together under the umbrella of Wiwa v Shell.

The plaintiffs include Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa Jnr, and his brother, Owens Wiwa.

For Shell, which denies any involvement in the environmentalist's killing, ordered by the government of Sani Abacha, the case represents an unwelcome public hearing of grievances that the company has spent time and money trying to make people forget.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/shell-on-trial-1690616.html