Here, Donziger is returning from a confrontation with the judge whom Chevron had asked to inspect a laboratory testing soil samples gathered by plaintiffs. Donziger muses: “The judicial system is so utterly weak. The only way that you can secure a fair trial is if you do things like that. Like go in and confront the judge with media around and fight and yell and scream and make a scene. That would never happen in the United States or in any judicial system that had integrity.” A few moments later, Donziger exclaims: “They’re all [i.e., the Ecuadorian judges] corrupt! It’s — it’s their birthright to be corrupt.” (The bracketed text is from Judge Kaplan’s ruling of November 5.)
“That Chevron is now using videos taken half a decade ago showing plaintiffs’ struggle with [the] spectre of corruption as a way of undermining both the plaintiffs and the Ecuadorian judiciary is glaringly ironic,” says plaintiffs’ spokesperson Karen Hinton, “especially given that it was Chevron who forced the plaintiffs to litigate in Ecuador and Chevron who at the time the videos were taped was the party attempting to corrupt the courts.”
