United States District Court Judge Susan Illston issued an order today finding evidence that Chevron covered up its role in human rights abuses in Nigeria, and was involved in paying the brutal Nigerian military during the years of military dictatorship... Nine Nigerian plaintiffs sued Chevron in federal court in San Francisco in 1999 for deaths and other abuses in two incidents in 1998 and 1999, in which Nigerian military and police using Chevron helicopters and boats shot and tortured protestors... The judge found that there was evidence that Chevron had assisted its Nigerian subsidiary, known as “CNL,” in these operations... [also refers to settled lawsuit against Unocal (now part of Chevron)]