EXPOSED: Minnesota Prosecutor sought Enbridge funding to prosecute Water Protectors at Line 3

The Center for Protest Law & Litigation has obtained documents through our ongoing investigation showing that Jonathan Frieden, the lead prosecutor in Hubbard County, Minnesota, who is seeking to jail hundreds of peaceful Line 3 water protectors, sought Enbridge pipeline corporation’s money to fund his prosecutions.

We are releasing the docs here showing an initial bill submitted to the Public Safety Escrow Trust, and his outrage when he didn't get what he wanted. The expectation of funding incentivized the wrongful charging of hundreds.

The so-called Public Safety Escrow Trust has funneled millions of dollars of Enbridge money to law enforcement in Minnesota, incentivizing the repression of water protectors at Line 3.

The documents are available for download on our website.

BACKGROUND

Minnesota sheriffs’ departments are being financially incentivized and paid for acting against the opponents of Line 3 with huge sums of money flowing though the "Public Safety Escrow Trust Fund" funded by the Enbridge Corporation. Water protectors and land defenders have been subjected to extensive deprivations of fundamental rights including baseless police seizures, surveillance, false arrest, kenneling, strip searches, false charges and aggressive prosecution.

The county sheriffs’ departments have received millions of dollars from Enbridge through the Fund. This financial structure essentially privatizes public police forces to act in service to the private pecuniary interests of this foreign corporation against its political opponents and the Indigenous community and to stop and disrupt peaceful organizing and expression that would educate the larger community and national audience about the environmental devastation and danger posed by the Line 3 pipeline.

We have been investigating law enforcement's operation at Line 3 including through fact finding on the ground at the site of Line 3 and numerous document demands, and are preparing the legal challenge to protect and advance the rights of those standing up against pending climate catastrophe.

SHARE: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

The Center for Protest Law & Litigation is a project of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF). Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the PCJF is a free speech, constitutional rights and civil rights organization that has represented thousands of individuals and organizations in defense of First Amendment rights around the country for over 25 years. For more information visit http://www.ProtestLaw.org and for breaking stories follow us on Twitter: @protestlaw & @thePCJF