The Environmental Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine has exposed more than a hundred criminal organizations over the past three years, most of which committed crimes in the field of subsoil and forestry.
This was announced by the head of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office (SEP) Borys Indychenko, Interfax reports.
"In general, 101 organized criminal groups and criminal organizations were exposed during the activity of environmental prosecutors. The largest number was in the field of forest use – 67 and subsoil use – 24," Indychenko said.
The head of the SEP noted that during 2023, 42 criminal proceedings were sent to the court on charges of committing almost 700 criminal offenses related to nature protection.
"Convictions have already been passed in 14 criminal proceedings," he added.
According to Indychenko, prosecutors report suspicions of those crimes that were previously investigated only theoretically.
"In particular, an indictment was sent to court for the first time for violating plant protection legislation, which, by the way, caused the death of about 300 birds (cranes). It was the first time that an indictment was brought to justice for the illegal transboundary movement of waste. For the first time in Ukraine, a pre-trial investigation into the fact of sea pollution was completed , with losses of $2 million, part of which has already been compensated," he concluded.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in the Chernobyl zone 12 illegal cuttings of forest were discovered, the area of which amounted to more than 700 cubic meters. Estimated losses reach UAH 70 million.
