Under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, five members of an organized criminal group were informed of the suspicion of illegal felling of a forest (part 3 of article 28, part 4 of article 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and two forestry officials were also charged with exceeding official powers (part 3 Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the investigation, the forester, together with a local businessman, organized a criminal group, which included a forest master and two residents of Skolivshchyna. During July-September 2022, they carried out illegal felling of trees on the territory of one of the forestry enterprises of the State Enterprise “Slavskoe Lisove Gospodarstvo”, including on the territory of the Nature Reserve Fund. They planned to sell the cut wood on the territory of Ukraine.
Such actions caused UAH 3.8 million in damages to the state.
Investigations are ongoing. The question of choosing preventive measures for the suspect, as well as imposing an arrest on their property in order to compensate for the damage, is being resolved.
The pre-trial investigation is carried out by the investigators of the territorial department of the Security Intelligence Service located in the city of Lviv, operational support is provided by the Department of Strategic Investigations in the Lviv region of the SSR of the National Police of Ukraine.
Note: in accordance with Art. 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until his guilt is proven in a legal manner and established by a court verdict.
Department of Information Policy
Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office