A court ordered an entrepreneur from Letychiv, Khmelnytsky region, to pay a UAH 20,400 fine for illegal charcoal production on farmland.
The offender also compensated for all the damage caused by pollution, damage, and mismanagement of the land, the press service of the Khmelnytsky Regional Prosecutor's Office reports.
The court found him guilty of violating Article 239, paragraph 1, and Article 254, paragraph 1, of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanctions of the article provided for a fine of 17,000 to 51,000 hryvnias or restraint of liberty for up to 2 years, with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 3 years.
It is noted that the entrepreneur leased land intended for commercial agricultural production. Without any permission, he installed 11 pyrolysis stoves on the land and started charcoal production.
"Such actions violated the soil structure and caused the contamination of the land with harmful substances, which poses a danger to the environment," the message emphasized.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in September, prosecutors reported the suspicion of a businessman from Letychev for pollution, spoilage and unmanaged land use due to production of charcoal.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in the Rivne region near Berezny, law enforcement officers discovered 12 steel barrel-stoves for burning charcoal during preventive measures to combat environmental crimes.
