After operating for years without environmental permission and polluting the Chesque River, a salmon company was paralyzed by the Supreme Court. The lawyers who represented the affected community in the case, face a lawsuit in which the company requires compensation of $ 400 million for economic damage.
In February of this year, the Mapuche communities that live in the Chesque River They celebrated a failure of the Supreme Court against a salmon that poured pollutants to the river since 1998 without having environmental permission. Now, the lawyers who represented Chesque’s neighbors in the long legal battle risen a Fine of $ 400 million.
After years operating irregularly, the company obtained an environmental permit in 2019, and it was revoked in 2021 due to the breach of several measures. The salmon continued operating despite the fact that he was revoked permission, and that is when the Lawyers of the community requested an order not to innovate before the Court of Appeals of Temuco, which paralyzed the salmon for 11 months.
After this situation, the company’s holders filed a demand Against the lawyers, Antonio Madrid and Antonia Berrios, arguing that the paralysis generated economic damage, and therefore demanding a compensation of $ 400 million.
The lawyers in question worked for the Ong Fimawhich is dedicated to providing specialized legal advice to communities that face socio -environmental conflicts.
Intimidation
From the same NGO Fima alert that this case constitutes not an attempt to seek justice but of intimidate and intimidate opponents to your activity. These demands, called as strategic against public participation or SLAPP For its acronym in English, they are increasing in the world and also in Chile.
“What we are facing with this action is a typical case of a strategically lifted trial to intimidate and limit public participation. The instance that gave the order to paralyze the works of the company was the Court of Appeals of Temuco and confirmed the same the Supreme Court. If that happened, it was because the Court saw that the application had foundations and it was necessary to stop the intervention immediately to avoid possible violations of fundamental guarantees, ”explains one of the defendants, Antonia Berrios.
The professional declares that demand means a wear For your activity. “It is a pressure to which we did not want personas y communities who just want to assert their rights?
From Fima and other organizations they have identified several cases in the country where large companies demand people for expressing your opposition to an investment project. A case is that of environmentalist Rodrigo de la Owhich was manifested against a real estate project in a sanctuary of nature.
Rodrigo was sued in 2020 for the property holder of the project, which required compensation of more than $ 200 million for economic damage and damage to the image. The case was dismissed by absence of grounds and the company was sentenced to pay the costs of the trial.
The increase in these types of cases is detrimental to Escazú agreementsigned by Chile in 2022, and where countries are committed to taking measures to improve access to environmental justice and reduce violence and threats against defenders and environmental defenders.
