During 2020-2021, according to the SBU, various law enforcement bodies opened 184 criminal proceedings for environmental crimes. The Head of the SBU Ivan Bakanov reported about it at the meeting in Prosecutor General’s Office.

As a result, 98 offenders were served notices of suspicion. 16 court verdicts have already entered into force.

“The issue of ecology is one of the elements of national security. After all, local violations can sooner or later cause enormous damage to the whole country. Therefore, it is not surprising that the SBU is responsible for dealing with ecocide crimes,” said Ivan Bakanov.

Among the consequences of the ecocide, which caused large-scale destruction and damage to the state, the Head of the SBU named the flood in Prykarpattia area in June 2020. The ecological catastrophe is currently being investigated by the SBU Office in Ivano-Frankivsk region upon the facts of ecocide, abuse of office and illegal deforestation.

According to Ivan Bakanov, the illegal deforestation doesn’t happen only in Prykarpattia area. The SBU regularly records violations in forestries in Volyn, Zakarpattia, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kirovohrad and other regions.

In addition, 17 proceedings were opened upon the facts of timber smuggling. 6 proceedings have already been sent to courts with indictments.

Among the other frequent environmental crimes are illegal extraction of minerals, including amber (in particular, criminal proceedings have been opened against amber large-scale extraction in 6 districts of Rivne region); violation of the rules related to protection of mineral resources and environmental pollution.

To prevent this, according to Ivan Bakanov, first of all changes in legislation  are necessary. Because today illegal mining of local significance is punishable only by an administrative fine.

Also, most criminal cases on sand alluvium are closed, because by law it is a mineral of local significance. And criminal liability occurs only for the extraction of minerals of national importance.

“We have to block all these loopholes. Because if there are systemic violations of the law, then there must be a systemic response of the state,” the SBU chairman added.

In her turn, Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova noted that the coordination meeting on environmental issues was held, unfortunately, for the first time in 30 years. “Despite the fact that environmental issues are currently regulated by more than four dozen laws, the system of liability for environmental offenses and ensuring respect for environmental human rights remains rather weak. Therefore, this year should be a year of environmental protection and effective cooperation of law enforcement bodies,” she stressed.