1/7 We just proved corporate bullies are not above the law!
Big Oil bully Energy Transfer and its Trump-donating Chairman just got handed a massive reality check in court. Today, @greenpeace won the preliminary phase of its landmark anti-SLAPP case against the US based pipeline company in the Netherlands.
2/7 Energy Transfer tried to dodge accountability by asking the Amsterdam District Court to dismiss Greenpeace International’s anti-SLAPP case.
And if that failed, they wanted the whole thing suspended until the final outcome of the North Dakota cases.
The court said no. Entirely.
3/7 Frankly, it’s embarrassing for Energy Transfer.
After years of using abusive lawsuits to drain resources, intimidate critics and silence opposition, Kelcy Warren’s pipeline company tried to avoid answering for its own conduct.
Now it has to stop trying to hide and actually file its defence under Dutch law.
4/7 This is the THIRD time Energy Transfer has tried and failed to halt Greenpeace International’s anti-SLAPP case.
Two North Dakota courts rejected their attempts. Now the Amsterdam District Court has rejected them too.
At some point, “legal strategy” starts looking a lot like panic.
5/7 SLAPP suits are designed to make speaking out expensive, exhausting and frightening.
They are used to bury nonprofits, activists, journalists and communities in legal fees until people are too afraid to challenge power.
But today’s ruling sends a different message:
Bullies can be held ACCOUNTABLE.
6/7 Energy Transfer is now being forced to face the very thing it tried so hard to avoid: accountability.
We are counter-suing to prove Energy Transfer acted unlawfully. Their abusive legal tactics led to a $345M US court judgment against Greenpeace International and Greenpeace in the US, aiming to erase Indigenous leadership and punish solidarity Standing Rock pipeline resistance - and send a wider message to the climate movement.
Greenpeace International’s landmark anti-SLAPP lawsuit took a major step forward today when the Amsterdam District Court rejected Energy Transfer’s latest attempt to avoid accountability for its unlawful actions, including back-to-back abusive lawsuits filed in the US.
7/7 When corporate bullies try to silence one of us, the rest of us get louder. 📢
Energy Transfer is trying to make an example out of the Greenpeace network.
Today, Greenpeace International is showing that if you persist, you can RESIST.
Sign the petition 👉 TimeToResist.org
Jef Verbeeck
Greenpeace International
Hardy Erlinger