Justice is Not for Sale

Help us fight back against SLAPP suits designed to crush justice. Your gift today powers the defense of human rights defenders.

10/17/25

On December 1, 2025, an Alabama court will put International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) and Terry, personally, on trial in a frivolous defamation and RICO case filed by coal giant Drummond. These suits are nothing more than SLAPP attacks—retaliation for our decades-long effort to expose Drummond’s financing of the AUC terrorist group in Colombia, which murdered Drummond’s union leaders and hundreds of others.

For 24 years, we have fought to bring the truth to light. In March 2001, Drummond’s union president and vice president were pulled off company buses by AUC gunmen and executed. Their successor was murdered months later. Witnesses were threatened, forced into exile, or killed.

In November 2001 we filed a complaint on behalf of the widows of the murdered union leaders. Drummond and the AUC threatened witnesses and forced two key witnesses to flee the country rather than testify. We went to trial in 2007 and did not prevail due to Drummond’s successful tactic of intimidating witnesses.

In 2009, we filed a new case on behalf of more than 600 families whose loved ones were murdered by AUC patrols paid to protect Drummond’s rail line. Though the U.S. courts limited our reach under the Alien Tort Statute, the evidence is overwhelming: Drummond ordered and paid for these crimes.

Colombian prosecutors are now pursuing justice. In 2018, nine Drummond executives were indicted. In April 2025, Drummond’s president and former president went on trial in Bogotá for financing crimes against humanity. Convictions are expected, just as seven Chiquita executives were sentenced last year for the same conduct.

Yet in the United States, Drummond continues its retaliation. For 14 years, we have been forced to defend against these baseless lawsuits. Their only purpose is to bleed our nonprofit dry, consume our time, and silence those who defend the world’s most vulnerable.

We cannot let them succeed. This is a red alarm emergency. To withstand Drummond’s billions, we urgently need resources for legal experts, witness travel, courtroom support, and attorneys’ fees. We are absolutely right on the merits, but without your help, justice could be crushed under the weight of corporate power.

Please stand with us. Join our fight to ensure accountability for crimes against humanity and to protect the right of human rights defenders to pursue justice.