They threw waste into the river: in Ukraine, the company’s employees will be tried for ecocide for the first time
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In Khmelnytskyi region, two company employees are accused of poisoning the river with industrial discharges. They will be the first in Ukraine to be tried for committing ecocide, the Prosecutor General’s Office reports. The law enforcement officers received numerous complaints from the public regarding the mass death of flora and fauna in the river, which is a tributary of the Sluch River. The river is located within the borders of Khmelnytskyi and Zhytomyr regions. Photo: Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine According to the investigators, two employees of a private enterprise engaged in the production of cardboard and paper products could dump industrial waste into the reservoir. “From October 2017 to January 2021, the head and foreman of the heating and water supply unit of the agricultural cooperative did not ensure high-quality and comprehensive cleaning of the industrial effluents of the enterprise from pollutants,” the message reads. Photo: Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine The OGP adds that during the production process, entrepreneurs systematically and deliberately polluted water with discharges that contained toxic substances. This led to the destruction of living organisms of the benthic fauna in an area about 4 km from the discharge site, the department adds. Photo: Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine “At the time of the engineering-ecological examination, the state of the water in the river was determined to be “very dirty”. Due to the contamination of the water with chemical substances, the river’s flora and fauna disappeared. The hydro-ecosystem was destroyed,” stated the OGP. The case has now been referred to the court. The men will be tried for committing ecocide (Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Photo: Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. The OGP adds that this is the first precedent in the history of independent Ukraine, when an indictment was directed based on the fact of committing ecocide. As a reminder, Ukraine may become the first country in the world to receive reparations for environmental damage. Read also: We will lose the Zaporizhzhia region if the nuclear power plant explodes. The Minister of Environmental Protection on the consequences of ecocide in Ukraine
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