Akin Gump Secures Appeals Court Victory in Bolivia Extrajudicial Killings Case

(Washington, D.C.) – In the latest significant human rights appellate victory secured by Akin Gump, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has vacated a trial court judgment that had been entered in favor of former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and former Bolivian Defense Minister José Carlos Sánchez Berzaín for the massacre of more than 50 unarmed indigenous people in 2003. For 13 years, Akin Gump has represented, pro bono, the family members of those who were killed, who are seeking justice.

In April 2018, a federal jury in Florida found the former officials liable under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) and awarded plaintiffs $10 million in damages for the extrajudicial killings carried out by the Bolivian military. (Click here to learn more.) The trial marked the first time in U.S. history that a former head of state had sat before his accusers in a U.S. human rights trial. One month later, though, the trial court, in an unusual move, set aside the jury verdict and granted judgment to the defendants as a matter of law due to insufficient evidence.

In its decision, the 11th Circuit vacated the trial judge’s judgment in favor of the defendants, held that plaintiffs had presented adequate evidence that the civilian deaths in question were “deliberated killings” within the meaning of the TVPA, and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings. The appeals court separately held that plaintiffs were entitled to a new trial on related wrongful-death claims because the district court had abused its discretion in admitting certain evidence that was favorable to the defendants.

James Tysse, partner in Akin Gump’s Supreme Court and appellate practice, led the team in the appeal of the case. He was joined by associate Lide Paterno and Akin Gump pro bono partner Steven Schulman, all of whom worked in close collaboration with lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic.

The victory in this case builds on Akin Gump’s recent successes in Supreme Court and appellate human rights litigation.

In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a certiorari petition in a human rights case concerning the immunity of foreign officials charged with torture, thereby preserving a precedent-setting D.C. Circuit victory that the firm had won. Akin Gump had filed suit under the TVPA against the heads of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) secret police and Ministry of Justice for the 2016 arrest, detention, assault and starvation of a U.S. veteran who worked in the DRC, all in an attempt to extract a false confession that he was an American mercenary. The D.C. Circuit reversed after the district court ruled that the foreign officials were entitled to immunity.

In 2012, an Akin Gump team capped a seven-year legal fight when a federal judge awarded $21 million to seven plaintiffs in a case involving claims of torture and murder against Mohamed Ali Samantar, Somalia’s former vice president, defense minister and prime minister. The case set an important legal precedent when the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the defendant’s claim of immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), thereby establishing that foreign government officials who commit human rights abuses while in office are not entitled to FSIA immunity in U.S. courts. (Click here to learn more.)

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers and advisors in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1945, the firm is proudly celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2020. #AkinGump75

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