Out of 11,877 criminal proceedings on forest violations, only 1,203 were transfered to court in 3 years

Not all registered criminal offenses related to illegal logging, transportation, storage or sale of forests go to court. NGO «Forestcom» sent a request for information to the Prosecutor General's Office to determine how many cases have been brought to court in the last three years.

Of the 11,877 criminal proceedings under art. 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, 7,376 were registered, and only 1,203 cases were sent to court. Some cases were closed.

In 2019, a total of 3,347 criminal offenses were detected, 1,961 were registered, and the other 1,387 proceedings were closed. Of the reported violations, 197 were transferred to court, which is 10% of all cases investigated.

In 2020, 4,147 offenses were detected, 2,553 were added to the added to the registry, 1,599 were closed, and 429 were transferred to court, which is 16.8% of all cases investigated.

In 2021, 4,383 offenses were detected, of which 1,521 were closed, and 2,862 were added to the registry. 577 proceedings were brought to court, which is 20.1% of all cases investigated.

Unfortunately, a rather low percentage of criminal proceedings have been sent to court. In this regard, the NGO "Forestcom" offers assistance to the Office of the Prosecutor General to conduct a joint analysis of the reasons for the low level of cases transferred to court to bring the perpetrators to justice for illegal logging under art. 246 of the Criminal Code, as well as to help analyze the number of sentences under art. 246 of the Criminal Code on bringing to justice guilty persons, information about which has not been provided by the Judicial Administration of Ukraine. 

We consider it extremely important to support the proposal of our NGO and to introduce public reporting on the movement of criminal proceedings in the National Police and the court to strengthen control over the prosecution of illegal logging.