During the first 10 months of 2021, 210 cases of illegal logging, as well as 210 cases of illegal transportation of timber were recorded in the territory of Tavush Region.
113 out of them decided to reject the initiation of a criminal case, mainly because the damage caused was not sufficient for the initiation of a criminal case. Despite this, 42 people have been prosecuted in these cases, 85% of the damage to the state has already been recovered, whereas the recovery of the remaining part is in progress.
Two criminal cases were sent to court. In one of them, a forester of "Dilijan National Park" SNCO was charged with official negligence, as a result of which 46 trees were illegally cut down, causing damage of 6.8 million AMD, and in the other case, another forester was charged with allow illegal logging of 15 trees by taking bribes, as a result of which the damage caused to the state amounted to about 2 million AMD. In both cases, the defendants' property was seized in order to secure damages.
In 2021, Former Director of "Artsvaberd Forestry" of "ArmForest" SNCO, responsible for forest protection, allegedly abused his official powers, committed an official forgery by the current director, senior forester, and a protection engineer, as a result of which illegal timber was taken out of the forest. The case is under investigation.
In addition, under the supervision of Tavush Region Prosecutor's Office, three large-scale, multiple criminal cases are being investigated in connection with the abuse of their powers and bribery by ArmForest SNCO officials in Ijevan Forestry resulting in a total of 228 tree felling.
A total of 15 foresters have been charged in these criminal cases.
The total damage caused to the state in the mentioned 3 criminal cases is 21.4 million AMD, in order to provide guarantees for the recovery of the damage, the property of the accused was seized, as RA Prosecutor's Office informs.
December 06, 2021 at 16:40