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Vytautas Butkevičius, head of the Varėna District Agency of the Environmental Protection Department of the Alytus Region Ministry of Environment, felt uneasy after locals noticed that the official was removing extra large rocks from the state forest and transporting them to his plot in the town of Matuizai.
As “Merkio kraštas” wrote, before Easter it was noted that a tracked excavator was operating at the Matuizai sewage treatment plant on state land. He pulled out large field stones weighing a few tons from the ground and destroyed the vegetation with footprints.
It turned out that the works were ordered by the Varėna district environmental officer V. Butkevičius.
Alvydas Verbickas, director of the Varėna district municipal administration, expressed concern that the environmentalist’s actions had become completely intolerable.
“This official decided to dig huge rocks out of the state land. He somehow hired a company. People came up with a bulldozer and started rolling those rocks onto the road so that all that was left was to load and remove them. The community noted work and he told us immediately. We reacted and I went there myself.
Speaking of which, V. Butkevičius himself arrived in his official car, saw us like in the movie, turned around and started running.
We met the representatives of that company there, I approached, I introduced myself, I said that their actions were illegal, that they were on state land and that they did not have any permits, ”says A. Verbickas.
Watching rush to run
According to the director of the municipal administration of the Varėna district, the workers admitted in good faith that they had been hired by Vytautas Butkevičius, but said they did not know what the territory was and what permits were required for these jobs.
In turn, the officer himself saw A. Verbickas and escaped, so he did not want to explain the situation further.
“Speaking of which, V. Butkevičius himself came in his official car, saw us and how in the movie he turned around and started running,” recalls A. Vererbickas.
According to him, the municipal administration immediately contacted the police, the Department of Environmental Protection also began an official inspection of the environmentalist. However, according to A. Verbickas, the biggest surprise is the official’s ability to get out of the situation, because V. Butkevičius is simply delaying the process.
According to him, it is simply impossible to remove an environmentalist from his position, because he tries to avoid all responsibility, knows well how to evade the law and, therefore, “hides” the situation.
“It is not possible to raise him somewhere because there is no rotation, nor can we talk about dismissal, because there is no reason.” A complete dead end, and he works as he worked. We have really done our best, but not everything depends on us in this case. Two days later he was able to go to the old man and ask: where did you put my rocks? I’ll take it anyway, “says A. Verbickas.
The environmentalist “kept his word.” According to the director of the administration, the works stopped immediately, the rocks were temporarily placed in a farmer in Matuizai, but V. Butkevičius still came to retrieve them.
It is not entirely clear why V. Butkevičius needs stones weighing several tons. According to A. Verbickas, the environmentalist intended to install a stone park.
15 minutes A Nivelsta representative was also contacted and carried out the work. He assured that the company had no connection with the ecologist Varėna, who had carried out the commissioned work only once.
“Our company has rented a bulldozer to Mr. Butkevičius. We have an invoice for renting the equipment, but only that. And we really don’t know who is there for him and what is too much land,” said a company representative.
Hopefully this was the first and last time we interacted with him.
According to him, Nivelsta has no connection with V. Butkevičius.
“We hope this is the first and last time we interact with him.” 15 minutes said the man.
Waiting for permission
After contacting V.Butkevičius, he confirmed that the works had been suspended and is now awaiting the permits assigned to them.
The environmentalist also said he felt harassed in the area because he had done nothing wrong.
“This is the fourth or fifth time that the director of administration has been persecuted. I took those stones from the pile, saw if they were in shape and cleaned them with a shovel. And today they lie there” 15 minutes V.Butkevičius said.
When asked if he still intended to remove stones from the forest after receiving the permit, the environmentalist assured that the work would continue.
This is not the first time that you have committed a crime.
About the ecologist Varėna Vytautas Butkevičius 15 minutes I already wrote last summer. This time, the Department of Environmental Protection launched an investigation into the official: it turned out that the environmentalist had illegally scraped the banks of the Merkys River for personal purposes, thereby violating the Earth’s surface and the Protected Areas Act.
Evaldas Brusokas, the direct head of V. Butkevičius and the head of the Druskininkai Environmental Protection Inspectorate, who was interviewed last year, said the fate of the environmentalist is still unclear, but 15 minutes As far as he knows, the responsibility for the eroded litter and the violation of the law was ultimately assumed by the contractors, the environmentalist limited himself to an official fine and continued his work.
“The most interesting thing is that a person is somehow forced to take responsibility. And the company has only been fined 99 euros for damaging the forest floor. ” A. Verbickas is surprised.
It should also be noted that the Merkys River embankment was mutilated and not rebuilt.
The actions of the Environment Officer are receiving the attention not only of the institutions, but also of the local population, who affirm that they can no longer accept the tough actions of V. Butkevičius.
“In general, this official feels completely unpunished and allows himself what no honest citizen could pay. Example: he punishes the elderly who cut the riverbank for a cow, and he himself opens a bulldozer and decides to have adequate access to Merkis in a way that is convenient for him ”, the newspaper” Merkis kraštas “described the complaints of the locals last year.
Theft is being investigated, but liability can be avoided
Chief of Commissioner Alytus County Police Chief Alvydas Jurgelevičius 15 minutes He assured that due to the actions of V. Butkevičius, in this case the robbery of rocks is suspected, a pre-trial investigation is already underway.
“The suspicions were raised in accordance with article 22 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania. 1d. And 178 p. 1d. Due to other information provided about the mentioned person, we have begun verification of the information,” it is announced in the answer provided.
In turn, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. 15 minutes He reported that he was interested in the environmentalist’s actions since the first incident last July. His representative, Rasa Stundžienė, commented that last year the Kaunas Board of the Special Investigation Service (STT) was instructed to explain V. Butkevičius’s behavior. They decided not to open an investigation because the official’s actions did not lead to criminal liability.
The prosecutor’s office at that time also contacted prosecutors from the Public Interest Protection Division about possible abuse of the service, who forwarded the complaints to the Ministry of the Environment.
The latter admitted that certain environmental violations had been committed, but the investigation was prolonged at the time due to V. Butkevičius’s license.
As there is no reasonable evidence that the stones were taken from the reserve, liability should not be threatened.
According to R. Stundžienė, conclusions are currently expected due to possible illegally stolen rocks.
“The Prosecutor’s Office has filed a request with the Official Central Ethics Commission (COEC) regarding the possible abuse of the service, the conclusions of which are still pending. The Ministry of the Environment has told us that collecting stones is not prohibited unless it is a nature or complex reserve. As there is no proven data that the stones were taken from the reserve, responsibility should not be threatened, “explained the representative of the Attorney General’s Office.
For his part, the director of the municipal administration of the Varėna district is convinced that the boulders in this case are state property that cannot be appropriated.
Rocks are part of the soil, and the soil is an integral part of the land and belongs to the owner of the land, making it an asset that may not be appropriate.
“It is prohibited to move large rocks to other places in nature reserves, nature complexes and rocks. In other places, boulders can be moved from one place to another, but this provision applies to the owner of the boulder or the authorized person.
Rocks are part of the soil, and the soil is an integral part of the land and belongs to the owner of the land, making it an asset that may not be appropriate. The rocks are sold to the public and it is even possible to determine their market price based on publicly available information.
If someone appropriates someone else’s property (in this case, takes stones from a parcel of land that belongs to someone else), that person may commit a robbery and cause material damage to the parcel owner, “explained A. Verbickas.
Ministry of Environment 15 minutes At the moment, he was unable to provide any information, because the investigation into the actions of environmentalist V. Butkevičius is still ongoing.
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