Federal Jury Finds in Favor of Akin Gump Pro Bono Clients in Bolivia Extrajudicial Killings Case

(New York) – In a landmark decision today, a federal jury found the former president of Bolivia and his minister of defense responsible for extrajudicial killings carried out by the Bolivian military, which killed more than 50 of its own citizens and injured hundreds during a period of civil unrest in September and October 2003. The decision comes after a 10-year legal battle spearheaded by family members of eight people killed in what is known in Bolivia as the “Gas War.” It marked the first time in U.S. history a former head of state has sat before his accusers in a U.S. human rights trial. The jury awarded a total of $10 million in compensatory damages to the plaintiffs, who were represented pro bono by Akin Gump.

Both the former Bolivian president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, and his former defense minister, José Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, have lived in the United States since they fled Bolivia following the massacre in 2003. In Bolivia, in 2011, former military commanders and government officials who acted under Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín’s authority were convicted for their roles in the 2003 killings. Both Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín were indicted in the same case, but could not be tried in absentia under Bolivian law.

In Mamani v. Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín, the families of eight Bolivians filed suit against Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín in 2007, alleging that the two men planned and ordered the extrajudicial killings. Today’s verdict affirms the plaintiffs’ claims that the two defendants were legally responsible for the extrajudicial killings and made decisions to deploy military forces in civilian communities in order to violently quash opposition to their policies. In addition to the deaths, hundreds of civilians were shot and injured.

Akin Gump litigation partner Joseph Sorkin led the team that worked with a group of legal organizations and other law firms to represent the Bolivian plaintiffs. He was joined by pro bono partner Steven Schulman; intellectual property partner Rubén Muñoz and counsel Jason Weil; litigation senior practice attorney Christine Doniak, counsel Jennifer Woodson and associates Saurabh Sharad, Zak Franklin, Erica Moran; and international trade counsel Maka Hutson.

In addition to Akin Gump, the family members were also represented by a team of lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights, Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, and the law firms of Schonbrun Seplow Harris & Hoffman, LLP, and Akerman LLP. Lawyers from the Center for Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia) are cooperating attorneys.

Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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