The number of crimes related to illegal felling of the Smolensk forest increased by 2.5 times

Photo of author

By admin

The prosecutor’s office of the Smolensk region reports that on August 11, the main topic of the planned coordination meeting of the heads of the law enforcement agencies of the Smolensk region was the sphere of forest use. The lands of the state forest fund make up a significant part of the region’s territory – 2,186.5 thousand hectares. As a result of illegal activities in the field of forest use, significant damage is inflicted on the state forest fund from year to year.

Under the chairmanship of the regional prosecutor in the videoconference mode, the heads of law enforcement agencies discussed the state and results of work on combating crime and offenses in the field of forestry. The reports of the specialized divisions of the regional prosecutor’s office and the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, prosecutors of Vyazemsky, Roslavl and Ugransky districts were heard.

In the first half of 2020, 58 crimes related to felling of forest stands were registered in the region, which is 152.2% more than in the same period last year (23). At the same time, these results do not reflect the real crime situation in the field of forest use. Of the total number of criminal cases, 40% were initiated after the cancellation of illegal decisions to refuse to initiate a criminal case.

The detection rate of these crimes also remains low, only 29.3% of criminal cases are solved and investigated. The issue of ensuring by the preliminary investigation bodies of compensation for the damage caused by these crimes requires constant attention. Based on the results of the discussion, measures were outlined to increase the efficiency of the activities of law enforcement agencies and prosecutorial supervision in this area.

Leave a Comment