{"id":17410,"date":"2019-05-01T11:41:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T11:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=17410"},"modified":"2019-05-01T11:41:18","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T11:41:18","slug":"dutch-court-rules-it-can-hear-case-against-shell-by-four-widows-of-executed-ogoni-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=17410","title":{"rendered":"Dutch court rules it can hear case against Shell by four widows of executed Ogoni activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Dutch court said on Wednesday it has jurisdiction to hear a damages suit brought against energy company Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of Ogoni activists executed by the Abacha government in 1995.
\nIn a preliminary ruling, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, but cautioned that they did not agree with assertions by the widows that Shell should have done more to prevent their husbands\u2019 deaths.
\nThe men executed were a group known as the \u201cOgoni Nine\u201d, led by Ken Saro Wiwa \u2013 activists who had protested against Shell\u2019s exploitation of the Niger Delta and who were executed after a trial widely seen as flawed.
\nEsther Kiobel , along with Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula, is seeking an apology and compensation from Shell.\u00a0 Their husbands were hanged in 1995 after a military tribunal convicted them for the murder of four political rivals.
\nIn a preliminary decision, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, a rare win in a decades-long legal fight, though the claimants must still prove their case.
\n\u201cThe court considers itself capable\u201d of hearing the case, said presiding judge Larissa Alwin, reading the decision of a three-judge panel. \u201cThis procedure will continue.\u201d
\nDutch courts do not award large punitive damages claims, though the case has the potential to embarrass Shell and provide a measure of comfort for the activists\u2019 families if it finds the company bears responsibility in their deaths.
\nThe men executed were a group that became known as the \u201cOgoni Nine\u201d \u2013 activists who included writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. They had protested against Shell\u2019s exploitation of the Niger Delta until they were arrested and hanged after a trial widely seen as flawed.
\nRelatives have sought to hold the Anglo-Dutch energy company partially responsible in foreign courts, after exhausting legal possibilities in Nigeria.
\nShell, headquartered in the Hague, paid $15.5 million (\u00a311.8 million) to victims\u2019 families in the United States in a 2009 settlement in which it also denied any responsibility or wrongdoing. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected U.S. jurisdiction in 2013.
\n\u201cI am glad that the (Dutch) court has found it has jurisdiction,\u201d said lead plaintiff Esther Kiobel, whose husband Barinem Kiobel was among the executed activists.
\n\u201cMy husband was killed like a criminal. I want him to be exonerated.\u201d
\nJudge Alwin cautioned that the three-judge panel did not agree with assertions by the widows that Shell should have done more to prevent their husbands\u2019 executions.
\nBut she ordered the company to turn over documents that could help the claimants\u2019 case, including any evidence that Shell might have made payments to people who gave false information to Nigerian law-enforcement officials.
\nIn a written statement, Shell denied involvement and said the company appealed in vain for clemency to Nigeria\u2019s military rulers at the time
\n\u201cSPDC did not collude with the authorities to suppress community unrest, it in no way encouraged or advocated any act of violence in Nigeria, and it had no role in the arrest, trial and execution of these men,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe believe that the evidence clearly shows that Shell was not responsible for these distressing events.\u201d
\n\u201cWe continue to deny all the allegations in the strongest possible terms,\u201d Shell representative Igo Weli said.
\n\u201cShell was not responsible for what happened. Shell actually made an appeal for clemency, but sadly this was not heard.\u201d
\nWeli, who works for Shell\u2019s Nigerian subsidiary, said the company would give the claimants access to internal documents as ordered.
\nMark Dummett, Amnesty International\u2019s Head of Business and Human Rights, said:
\n\u201cThis decision marks a vital step towards justice for Esther and the other plaintiffs. It also sets an important precedent for other victims around the world who are seeking to hold powerful corporations to account, and who struggle to access justice.
\n\u201cWe salute Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula. It\u2019s only because of their courage and persistence that we\u2019ve got this far.
\n\u201cThe women believe their husbands would still be alive today were it not for Shell\u2019s relentless pursuit of profit, which encouraged the Nigerian government\u2019s bloody crackdown on protesters even when it knew the deadly human cost. Shell might now face questioning in a court of law about what they knew and how they contributed to this horrifying event in Nigerian history.
\n\u201cToday\u2019s ruling will have great significance for people everywhere who have been harmed by the greed and recklessness of global corporations.\u201d
\nNo date has yet been set for a next hearing.
\nBy Reuters<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Dutch court said on Wednesday it has jurisdiction to hear a damages suit brought against energy company Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of Ogoni activists executed by the Abacha government in 1995. In a preliminary ruling, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, but cautioned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}