Nigerian widows end case in the Netherlands against Shell

The widows’ husbands have been among the many ‘Ogoni 9’, a gaggle of activists hanged by Nigeria’s army authorities in 1995.

The OML 25 Shell circulate station in Kula kingdom in Akuku Toru Native Authorities Space of Rivers State, Nigeria [File: Tife Owolabi/Reuters]

4 widows looking for to carry Shell answerable for damages within the Netherlands after their anti-oil activist husbands have been executed by the Nigerian authorities in 1995, have cancelled additional authorized proceedings, their lawyer has mentioned.

“Clearly this isn't with out disappointment and frustration,” mentioned lawyer Channa Samkalden in assertion on Monday asserting that the widows have cancelled an attraction launched after the Hague District Courtroom rejected their case earlier this yr.

“This has been a prolonged and demanding process, which makes them re-live horrible occasions, whereas the end result is most unsure.”

The widow’s husbands had been amongst a gaggle that later grew to become often called the “Ogoni 9”, that have been arrested and hung after a flawed trial that turned worldwide opinion in opposition to Nigeria’s then-military rulers. The activists included author Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Shell struck a $15.5m settlement in 2009 in the USA with kin of some households, together with the Saro-Wiwa property, with out acknowledging wrongdoing. However others continued making an attempt to carry the corporate accountable in overseas courts after exhausting authorized potentialities in Nigeria.

In March, the Hague court docket dominated there was not sufficient proof to assist the widows’ assertion that Shell had bribed witnesses to present false testimony within the trial that led to the boys’s executions.

“We now have at all times denied the allegations made in opposition to Shell on this case,” Shell mentioned in an announcement on Monday. “Nonetheless, this doesn't in any method diminish the tragic nature of the occasions of 1995.”

Samkalden, the lawyer, mentioned the widows live in “tough circumstances”.

“Relatively than specializing in the attraction, initiatives at the moment are being developed geared toward offering these girls with some fundamental monetary help,” she mentioned.