The oil company is accused of colluding with the Nigerian military in the breakup of a protest on an oil rig that left two people dead in 1998. Opening statements began Tuesday in a trial over whether Chevron Corp. colluded with the Nigerian military in 1998, when troops broke up a protest at an offshore oil rig, killing two villagers... In court Tuesday, attorney Dan Stormer argued on behalf of his Nigerian clients that...Chevron used company helicopters to fly "notoriously brutal" Nigerian troops to the oil platform, where they killed and injured unarmed protesters... But Chevron attorney Bob Mittelsteadt countered that the protesters had held workers at the oil rig hostage for more than three days and that the company was obligated to call in the authorities to protect its employees.