As Rights Action reported, on January 21, 2020, the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario ruled in favour of the Plaintiffs on all points, confirming that the Maya Q’eqchi’ victims of mining harms can and are suing Hudbay not only for the rapes committed by the mining company’s security personnel, but also for the rapes committed at the same time by Guatemalan police and military. These precedent-setting lawsuits were first filed in Ontario courts in 2010 and 2011.
Lawyers for the Plaintiffs, Cory Wanless and Murray Klippenstein, prepared a statement about the importance of the January 21, 2020 ruling: http://www.chocversushudbay.com/.
Rosa Elvira – speaking on behalf of the 11 Plaintiffs from Lote 8 – and Angelica Choc (widow of the murdered Adolfo Ich) sent statements responding to news of the ruling.
All the “justice” money can buy?
On January 23, 2020, the Financial Post reported that “Hudbay has likely spent millions of dollars litigating the case. […] One of its lawyers at Fasken, Robert Harrison, billed at an hourly rate that equated to $925 an hour in 2015, and plaintiff lawyers involved in the case said litigation has involved hundreds of hours at minimum.”
It now appears Hudbay is ready to spend more money on lawyers.
Stay tuned. Share this information. Consider donating funds for this landmark struggle.
Grahame Russell
grahame@rightsaction.org
More information
Murray Klippenstein, murray.klippenstein@klippensteins.ca
Cory Wanless, cory@waddellphillips.ca
http://www.chocversushudbay.com/
About Mayan Q’eqchi justice and territorial defense struggles related to Hudbay’s former mining operation in Guatemala: Grahame Russell, Rights Action, grahame@rightsaction.org, www.rightsaction.org
