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On October 6, the Panevėžys District Court acquitted JS de Utena, who had illegally hunted a bison in January this year. The judicial investigation was carried out in accordance with article 272 of the Penal Code. Paragraph 3 due to significant damage to a protected wild species.
The pre-trial investigation was launched after JS illegally hunted a bison during a commercial hunt in the Panevėžys district on January 3 this year. Initially, a protocol of administrative misconduct for said hunter was drawn up at the Panevėžys Board of the Environmental Protection Department of the Ministry of the Environment and it was intended to compensate 12 thousand for the damage caused to nature. 198 euros for damages.
However, in mid-January, a wandering bison chick was captured in the Panevėžys district, which soon died. DNA examination revealed that it was a young bison shot during a hunt by JS. For the shot that carries (feeding) the bison, the damage is tripled, so it was estimated at more than 36.5 thousand. euro damage.
When new circumstances became apparent and the damage to nature was significantly greater than previously thought, on 26 February the Department of Environmental Protection of the Ministry of the Environment requested the Panevėžys Regional Prosecutor’s Office to initiate a pre-trial investigation.
The pre-trial investigation was conducted by officials from the Panevėžys City and District Police Station, and the investigation was conducted by the Panevėžys District Prosecutor’s Office, Rima Matulionienė. Hunter JS, due to criminal negligence in violation of hunting rules prohibiting shooting at an unidentified target, was suspected of shooting a female dog that was carrying (feeding) a female dog and thus causing significant damage to the protection of protected species included in the list of protected animals of the Republic of Lithuania. condition.
During the pre-trial investigation, JS pleaded guilty and compensated part of the damage caused to nature, more than 26 thousand. and promised to repay the remainder before November 2021.
On September 28, JS and his wife, LS, filed an application with the Panevėžys District Prosecutor’s Office requesting that the suspect be released from criminal responsibility on bail. JS’s wife agreed to become a guarantor.
After evaluating the data collected during the pre-trial investigation, the prosecutor R. Matulionienė adopted a resolution to terminate the pre-trial investigation and submitted an application to the Panevėžys District Court regarding the release of JS from criminal responsibility. on bail.
On October 6, the court upheld the prosecutor’s judgment and decided to release Utena from criminal responsibility under the bail, transferring her to the LS bail bond for a period of 2 years. JS also has a 2-year hunting penalty.
Earlier, on September 24, the prosecutor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Division of the Panevėžys Regional Prosecutor’s Office decided to terminate the pre-trial investigation in which two officials from the Panevėžys Department of Environmental Protection were suspected of possibly they did not fulfill their duties in explaining bison hunting.
This pre-trial investigation began at the end of January this year, when representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection (hereinafter, the Department) under the Ministry of the Environment addressed the forces of order. The latter asked to determine whether the head of the Panevėžys Wildlife Protection Inspectorate of the Panevėžys Board of the AB Department and the chief specialist D. Š. duly performed his duties in the investigation of a hunt for females illegally hunted during professional hunting. According to the representatives of the Department, if the mentioned environmentalists did not find that the shot bison was driving (feeding) the chick, it was estimated that the damage to the Protected Species and Habitats was 3 times less, causing almost 25 thousand damage to the state. euro damage.
On September 24, the prosecutor in charge of the pretrial investigation issued the decision to terminate the pretrial investigation.
The prosecutor concluded that the head of the Panevėžys Wildlife Protection Inspectorate of the Panevėžys Board, in the performance of his duties, had not sufficiently guaranteed the interests of the service. As a result, it was assumed that incorrect determination of the damage caused by the female bison bullet and its game after the initiation of the administrative misconduct investigation could have caused significant harm to the state. As the actual damage was calculated when the new circumstances were clarified, and JS, who hunted the female bison, acknowledged that he did not question it, reimbursed most of it and promised to pay the remaining amount within a year, no harm was caused to the State .
The prosecutor’s ruling states that the head of the Panevėžys Wildlife Protection Inspectorate AB may not have adequately complied with the laws regulating his activities, but in this case the case law of the Lithuanian Supreme Court should also be taken into account ( THE T). The SCL has repeatedly stated in its rulings that criminal liability in a democratic society should be perceived only as an extreme last measure (ultima ratio) used to protect protected legal assets and values in cases where the same objectives cannot be achieved with measures. more forgiving.
In the opinion of the Prosecutor’s Office, the assessment of the AB’s actions / omissions could be carried out in a disciplinary way, for which the Department has already started (but suspended the process of imposing disciplinary responsibility on the latter during this pre-trial investigation). The Department’s misconduct investigation process may now continue.
In his ruling, the prosecutor also stated that D.Š., the lead specialist of the Panevėžys Wildlife Protection Inspectorate. No evidence of a crime provided for in article 229 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania has been established in the actions.
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