In Zhytomyr Oblast, the court will hear the case of officials who “legalized” the illegal felling of 178 pine trees

The specialized environmental prosecutor’s office completed the pre-trial investigation and sent an indictment to the court against former officials of the forestry industry, who allegedly tried to organize the illegal felling of healthy trees under the guise of sanitary cleaning.

In the Zhytomyr Region, two former forestry engineers of the “Baraniv Forestry” branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” will be tried, as well as a former forester’s assistant of the Yavne Forestry and a forest pathologist of the “Kyivlisozakhist” enterprise.

According to the investigation, in June 2024, a group of people allegedly organized a scheme to cut down trees illegally. In the official documents, false information about damage to 178 pine trees by pests was entered, which became the basis for obtaining a permit for felling.

However, the law enforcement officers established that the purpose of the officials’ actions was not sanitary cleaning, but an actual attempt to destroy healthy trees. The implementation of such a scheme could cause damage to the environment in the amount of more than 1.8 million hryvnias.

Thanks to the timely actions of employees of the internal and economic security of SE “Forests of Ukraine”, the illegal logging ticket was canceled, and the cutting itself was stopped before the work began.

The defendants are charged with a completed attempt to illegally cut down a forest, perpetrated by a group of persons in a prior conspiracy with serious consequences, as well as with entering false information into official documents.

According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the procedure established by law and confirmed by a court verdict.

It should also be noted that large-scale illegal felling was discovered in Bukovina, resulting in the loss of trees worth almost 19 million hryvnias due to the negligence of foresters.