Meet the Costa Rican Lawyer Who Sued His Own President For Backing the Iraq War
AlterNet / By Medea Benjamin
Meet the Costa Rican Lawyer Who Sued His Own President For Backing the Iraq War
Costa Rican lawyer Roberto Zamorra.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Medea Benjamin
Roberto Zamorra uses the judicial system to fight for the rights of the most marginalized.
May 7, 2014 |
Sometimes it just takes one person with a creative mind to shake up the entire legal system. In the case of Costa Rica, that person is Luis Roberto Zamorra Bolaños, who was just a law student when he challenged the legality of his governments support for George Bushs invasion of Iraq. He took the case all the way up to the Costa Rican Supreme Courtand won.
Today a practicing lawyer, Zamorra at 33 still looks like a wiry college student. And he continues to think outside the box and find creative ways to use the courts to fuel his passion for peace and human rights.
During my recent visit to Costa Rica, I got a chance to interview this maverick attorney about his past victories, and his brilliant new idea to seek compensation for Iraqis.
Lets start out recalling the key moment in Costa Ricas pacifist history.
That was 1948, when Costa Rican President Jose Figueras declared that the nations military would be abolished, a move that was ratified the following year by the Constituent Assembly. Figueras even took a sledgehammer and smashed one of the walls of the military headquarters, announcing that it would be turned into a national museum and that the military budget would be redirected toward healthcare and education. Since then, Costa Rica has become renowned for its peaceful and unarmed neutrality in foreign affairs.
More:
http://www.alternet.org/world/meet-costa-rican-lawyer-who-sued-his-own-president-backing-iraq-war