The prestigious, international law firm, Heller Ehrman, on behalf of DECOIN, today notified Chris Werner of Ascendant Holdings of improper activities in conjunction with the Junin mining project, which Ascendant, against firm and growing local, regional and international opposition, wants to carry out. (
PDF of the letter.)
The letter opens by saying: "We are writing on behalf of our client, Defensa y Conservación Ecologica de Intag ("DECOIN") to call your attention to the highly improper activities of Ascendant Copper Corporation and/or the pro-mining Ascendant supporters in the area... in the Junin region of Ecuador. We request Ascendant's assistance in ensuring that the process of determining the future path of that region proceed in an ethically sound and legal manner"
Heller Ehrman has 730 attorneys in 12 offices throughout the US and abroad, in 2004 dedicated 70,000 attorney hours to work on many areas of public interest law, including international civil rights and related litigation. The letter goes on to state, that "the firm has committed to advise and to represent DECOIN regarding its efforts to participate meaningfully and lawfully in the political, business, and regulatory processes related to potential mining in Junin".
DECOIN would like to sincerely thank Heller Ehrman and its attorneys for their commitment to helping causes like ours. Their work, I think important to highlight, is entirely on a pro-bono basis. We believe it will make a definitive difference in the 10 year-old resistance to a mine we all know will destroy our communities, forests, streams and livelihood, and will seriously erode human and collective rights.
I think today the communities slated for relocation, and all of the people opposing this monster, can sleep a bit more at peace, knowing they have this kind of support.
Carlos Zorrilla
DECOIN
