Guatemalan women amend complaint in Canadian court based on new information in lawsuit against Hudbay Minerals over alleged rapes
"'They burned everything': Guatemalan women press Hudbay on human rights claims in closely watched case," 17 Sep 2019
Irma Yolanda Choc Cac and Angelica Choc, had travelled from a remote part of eastern Guatemala, to continue pressing legal claims that Hudbay Mineral Inc., one of Canada’s oldest mining companies, bears liability for rape, violence, and other human rights abuses that took palce more than a decade ago when their village was razed to make way for the Fenix nickel mine.
Their lawsuit, originally filed in 2011, ties into a trend of increasing scrutiny of Canadian mining and exploration companies’ overseas activity.
Several of the plaintiffs in the case… describe the trauma-being tied, beaten and gang-raped in front of their children, in excruciating detail while under examination by Hudbay’s lawyers.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers say they have gained new details from documents and emails that Hudbay produced during the litigation to substantiate the alleged human rights abuses. Already, the have filed documents in court that contain new details related to payments made to military and police, as well as arrangements between local police and military. At the hearing, lawyers for Hudbay said they would consider agreeing to allow the plaintiff’s amended complaint, although they may file a new motion challenging whether Ontario is the proper jurisdiction to hear the claims.