Indemnification is still on the table

  • 11.11.2014
  • News
Indemnification is still on the table

The training seminar was held within the framework of training courses in order to improve the skills of the employees of the monitoring, supervisory and law enforcement agencies of Primorye. The main topic of the seminar was determining and calculating environmental damage of illegal hunting and illegal logging. This time 20 employees of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for Primorsky Krai underwent training in the Institute for Staff Advanced Training of Primorskaya State Academy of Agriculture (PSAA) under the "Basis for the Detection of Environmental Crimes, Determination of Damage and Its Reimbursement" program.

The compensation for harm caused to nature as a result of wildlife extermination, including species listed in the Russian Red Book was discussed at the Seminar. Sergey Aramilev, Director of Primorsky branch of the Amur Tiger Center, Candidate of Biological made a report on the size of the environmental damage and the methods for its estimation.

"We all perfectly understand that the loss of an animal, especially a rare or an extinct one, is irreplaceable in monetary terms. Nevertheless, imposing a penalty on negligent citizens for environmental damage is an effective measure that allows not only to punish amateurs for shooting obscure targets, but also make the business unprofitable for those who kill animals in order to earn money by selling their body parts," says Sergei Aramilev. - It should be remembered that the limitation period for environmental crimes is 20 years, so offenders have no chance to escape a fair punishment."

In fact, the training seminar is being held to ensure that the competent authorities do not forget to punish violators.

"Think about it, 135 thousand rubles will be collected from the offender for hunting a wapiti male (one of the main components of the Amur tiger’s diet) in game reserves, and 175 thousand rubles for a female. In addition, an offender may be deprived of the hunt license for 1 - 3 years, or even convicted in art. 258 of the Russian Criminal Code. There is a different methodology for calculating damage with respect to the killing of the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern leopard, but the fees are quite high: without taking into account the inflation rate, a citizen, will be forced to pay 1.1 million rubles in addition to the criminal prosecution under Art. 258.1", - comments Aramilev.

"For many years we have been conducted research in the field of illegal logging and concluded that currently about 90% of illegal logging is carried out with the use of licenses or under their cover. Sometimes, those whose work is to control the legality of logging are involved in this. Illegal logging without permissive documents is now being practiced mainly by local residents in remote areas for heating residential houses, " said Anatoly Kabanets. - At this seminar, we showed examples of violations that often affect the detection of illegal logging, the determination of its volume and damage. We hope that the knowledge gained will help them to pay attention to the correctness of determining the calculation of damage, and will also help to identify hidden violations of forest legislation. "

Important amendments to the legislation were adopted by Federal Law No. 277-FZ of July 21, 2014, in accordance with the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation following the meeting of the Presidium of the State Council of the Russian Federation on April 11, 2013 on improving the efficiency of the forest complex. In addition to these measures, a draft resolution by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, is being submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation, amending the current document "On calculating the amount of damage caused to forests due to violation of forest legislation". Thus, according to legislators, the measures taken will allow reducing the economic attractiveness of illegal logging and will ensure compensation for damage to nature.

"Detailed discussion of these issues in the courses of professional development is relevant in connection with the increase in the amount of fines and increased criminal and administrative liability for the acquisition, storage, transportation, processing for the sale or sale of knowingly illegally harvested wood, violation of the rules of logging, illegal logging, and Destruction or damage to forest plantations. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was supplemented by changes to articles 191.1, 260, 261," commented Olga Zherebkina.

The program of the courses was formed taking into account the changes in the legislation in the sphere of capturing fauna objects, as well as the List of President Vladimir Putin's instructions to the Government of the Russian Federation on the conservation of Amur tigers and Far Eastern leopards of November 7, 2013.

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