Welcome to Pushback. I'm Aaron Mate.

In 2011, the oil giant Chevron lost a historic court case in Ecuador,

ordered to pay $18 billion for environmental damage to indigenous citizens.

But instead of paying up, Chevron has waged a global

campaign to avoid accountability. This includes targeting one of the attorneys who helped defeat

it in court. That attorney's name is Stephen Donziger, and what he has faced from Chevron

is something out of a Kafka novel.

Chevron managed to get a U.S. federal judge to appoint a private law firm to prosecute

Donzinger on the U.S. government's behalf, even though U.S. prosecutors declined to take the case.

That has resulted in Donziger being under house arrest for nearly two years,

and his so-called trial recently getting underway in New York City.

Well, outside the courtroom, a number of people came to support Donzinger,

including the musician Roger Waters and the actor Susan Sarandon.

This company, first Chevron now, has paid millions of dollars,

which they could have used to restore this water,

which they could have used to make up for this

horrible racist dumping into the Amazon. And instead they chose to silence and persecute Stephen.

Why? Because it's also a signal to other activists, to other people who are trying to save our environment,

that you will have dire consequences if you open your mouth and if you take legal action.

Well, Stephen Donzinger joins me now. Steven, welcome to pushback.

Thanks. Thanks for having me, Aaron.

For people who are just hearing about your case for the first time, can you just catch us up on how you got from winning this judgment against Chevron to now facing a trial from Chevron today?

...