Human Rights: Sochi activist sent to prison for 3 years for shedding light on environmental impact of Olympic construction in Sochi

Sochi Olympic Site

SOCHI, Russia -- An activist who shed the light on the environmental impact of Olympic construction in Sochi was ordered Wednesday to serve three years in prison for spray-painting a fence.

A court in the regional capital of Krasnodar converted the suspended sentence given to Yevgeny Vitishko in 2012 into a prison term, according to his lawyer, Alexander Popkov.

"We expected it and so did Zhenya (Vitishko)," Popkov told The Associated Press, adding that the ruling confirms suspicions that Vitishko is "persecuted for his activities."

Vitishko and another activist, Suren Gazaryan, were found guilty in 2012 of "deliberate destruction of property" for spray-painting the fence of what they said was a local governor's property in a national forest where construction is forbidden. Both received a suspended sentence, but Gazaryan was later threated with additional charges and promptly left the country. He received political asylum in Estonia last year.

As a condition for his suspended sentence, Vitishko had to check in regularly with penitentiary officials and inform them of his travel plans. Officials last year petitioned the court to convert Vitishko's suspended sentence into a prison term, claiming that he had failed to inform him of his trip out of town.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned the ruling, saying that "the case against Vitishko has been politically motivated from the start." The rights group called on the International Olympic Committee to urge Russian authorities to free the activist.

Source: AP, Feb. 12, 2014

Polluting to death: China introduces execution for environmental offenders

China has introduced “harsher punishments” for breaking the nation’s environmental protection laws: reckless violators of pollution standards in the world’s biggest and fastest-growing economy now face execution.

A new judicial interpretation taking effect on Wednesday has tightened Chinese “lax and superficial” enforcement of environmental protection laws, Xinhua reported citing a government statement.

The government is set to introduce a “precise criteria for convictions and sentencing” while the “judicial explanation provides a powerful legal weapon.” Law enforcement should take environmental regulations seriously and “all force should be mobilized to uncover law-breaking clues of environmental pollution in a timely way,” the statement reads.

Earlier this month the cabinet approved new measures to combat air pollution as social discontent over the air quality in urban centers continues to rise.

To help tackle the environmental danger, Beijing has promised to focus more on solar energy, despite ongoing trade disputes with the United States and Europe.

The State Council approved 10 anti-pollution measures aimed at reducing emissions from the industries which contributed to the country’s economic miracle of the last three decades.

Cutting emissions per unit of GDP in key industries by at least 30 percent by the end of 2017 is one of the main objectives alongside curbing the growth of high-energy-consuming industries such as cement, steel, glass and aluminum.

Among other key measures on the table is to strengthen enforcement of penalties that firms pay based on their emissions scale. China also promised legal action for those industries that fail to upgrade pollution controls and introduce emissions standards.

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Source: RT News, June 20, 2013