The expected trial against the Greenpeace environmental group in North Dakota, United States, already has a resolution by the jury. The organization has been sentenced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the energy oil pipeline company, after being considered guilty for defamation and other claims such as purple, discomfort, civil conspiracy and other acts in protests that took place in 2016.
Energy Transfer Partners, an oil and gas company based in Dallas valued at almost 70,000 million dollars, Greenpeace claims a compensation of 300 million of dollars (about 287 million euros) for the damage caused by “inciting” the protests of the Sioux Standing Rock tribe in 2016 against the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, in the north of the country, which ended in vandalism, delayed the project and raised the costs. At the moment the exact amount that will have to pay is unknown.
Greenpeace has denied the accusations and has claimed that he simply supported those protests. In a statement collected by The Guardianthe company has recognized after knowing the verdict that demands like this aim “Destroy the right to peaceful protest”. The main legal advisor of Greenpeace in the US, Deep Padmanabha, said several weeks ago that this can “establish new dangerous legal precedents that can make any participant in protests that can be responsible for being responsible for the actions of others” in these.
During the jury selection there was already controversy, since several members were contrary to the protests and even had links with the fossil fuel industry, something that was criticized by the environmental organization.
It is not clear if Greenpeace will resort to the decision, but he had already warned of the consequences that this sentence may have, which It could endanger the future of the United States Organization. Padmanabha said Wednesday that the organization’s work “will never stop”, answering questions about whether the amount of compensation would end Greenpeace in the United States. “That is the really important message today, and we are going to leave and we will gather to decide which are our next steps,” said Padmanabha.
“What we have seen during these weeks has been the flagrant contempt of Energy transfer by the voices of the Sioux Standing Rock tribe. And although they also tried to misrepresent the truth about the role of Greenpeace in the protests, we, instead,. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to nonviolence In all the actions we undertake, “said Depa Padmanabha.
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