For the first time during the independence of Ukraine, an indictment for ecocide was sent to the court (Article 441 of the Criminal Code). The accused are two employees of a cardboard and paper enterprise in Khmelnytskyi region. The investigation believes that they poisoned the river — a tributary of the Slucha.
The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office writes about this.
According to the investigation, from October 2017 to January 2021, the men did not clean the industrial effluents of the enterprise from toxic substances, but instead regularly dumped impurities into the water.
As the examination established, as a result of such actions in a radius of four kilometers from the discharge site, all living organisms died. River flora and fauna have disappeared from water pollution with chemicals, and the hydroecosystem has collapsed.
Now the two suspects face up to 15 years in prison.
