Amazon Watch an earlier court's dismissal on the basis of "forum non conveniens." Thus, legal proceedings were started in Ecuador in 2003. Amazon Watch supports the Ecuadorian plaintiffs by publishing a press kit alleging that Chevron (corporate successor to Texaco) should be held accountable for the dumping of of toxic waste water into a region of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest inhabited by more than 30,000 people – purported to be one of the largest oil related contaminations ever, far exceeding that of the Exxon Valdez disaster. A 2011 decision in Ecuador ordered Chevron to pay $9.5 billion. Ecuador's Supreme Court in 2013 affirmed
S v Sikhipha had been prejudiced by the absence of a legal representative. There was no irregularity in this respect. Where, however, an accused faces a charge as serious as that of rape, with a possible life sentence, he should not only be advised of his right to a legal representative, but encouraged to exercise it. On the present facts, the accused had not been prejudiced. The appeal against conviction was dismissed, although there was an appeal against sentence which was upheld: The sentence of life imprisonment was set aside and a sentence of twenty years' imprisonment imposed instead. S v Sikhipha In