As controversial lawyer Steven Donziger faces a Sept. 9 bench trial on contempt of court charges that could land him in prison, a new—and rarely seen inside the United States—trial monitoring committee has been created to, in its words, “ensure” that upcoming federal trials of Donziger “are conducted in a way that upholds due process, judicial ethics, and the rule of law.”

“The campaign of judicial and corporate harassment being waged against Steven Donziger is chilling in scope and intensity,” said Jeanne Mirer, a member of the newly formed committee and president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.