SITUATION WITH "WHALE PRISON" IN PRIMORYE on MAY 31, 09:22 10:34 Is updated
The court partially satisfied the claim of the zoodefenders demanding to release killer whales in Primorye
The plaintiffs noted that the animals may not survive in the bay of Srednyaya the next winter
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, on May 31. / TASS/. The Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city court on Friday partially satisfied the claim of the Sakhalin zooprotective organizations "Ecological Watchkeeping of Sakhalin", "Friends of the Ocean", "Boomerang" demanding to set free killer whales and white whales from the bay of Srednyaya in Primorsky Krai, the correspondent of TASS from the courtroom tells.
"The court decided the petition of the animal welfare organizations to partially satisfy (The court satisfied all requirements to the Rosrybolovstvo. Requirements imposed on Rosprirodnadzor are rejected)", - the judge Natalia Perchenko announced the decision.
As one of claimants Dmitry Lisitsyn explained after the court session, "the court recognized catch of animals as illegal". "But the decision on release [providing freedom] was not as the court did not satisfy a part of the claim that Rosprirodnadzor has to be engaged in withdrawal and release", - he told.
Claimants in the statement demanded to recognize inaction of Rosprirodnadzor as illegal and to oblige him to withdraw gratuitously animals from business firms and to let out them to the native habitat. Also they asked to recognize as illegal a number of orders [official documents] of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rosrybolovstvo on the ... admissible volume of catch of killer whales and white whales in 2018, distribution of quotas for their catch and the approval of plans of fishery in the cultural and educational purposes.
Positions of the parties
During the debate of the parties zoodefenders drew the attention of court to the public response caused in the Russian and world communities because of mass catch and deduction of a huge number of mammals. Also claimants appealed to court to define the body responsible for withdrawal and release of animals. The plaintiffs added that the animals imprisoned in captivity may not survive the next winter in the Srednyaya Bay. "All this case with catch of killer whales and white whales we, zoodefenders, consider as a scandalous, appealed to court because no other methods can work any more", - the chairman of public organization "Friends of the Ocean" Vyacheslav Kozlov said.
According to defendants, claimants incorrectly interpreted the legislation, and the situation with catch of killer whales and white whales does not infringe on interests and the rights of citizens in any way. "To me the position of claimants directed not to protection of animals, and to counteraction to the companies is unclear, there is a feeling that here [in court] not the rights of citizens, but the interests of particular persons - claimants are affected", - Alexey Reshetov (the director of the Afalina - of one of companies-otlovshchikov [companies-trappers]) addressed court.
The defendants noted that the act of gratuitous seizure [of gratuitous release - providing freedom] of killer whales and Beluga whales is impossible, as the company received permission to catch in accordance with the law. Mammals were the property of the state when they were in the all-Russian waters [within the water territory of the Russian Federation].
Intention to appeal the decision of the court
The lawyer of the regional public organization "Ecological watchkeeping of Sakhalin" Natalia Lisitsyna in turn reported that the Sakhalin public organizations "Ecological watchkeeping of Sakhalin", "Friends of the Ocean", "Boomerang" intend to appeal the court decision.
"We will appeal against the decision on [conclusions of the city court, concerning] Rosprirodnadzor. The right of withdrawal and release of animals ... belongs to this department, and it did not take any actions", - Lisitsyna reported.
She noted that zoodefenders are satisfied with the judgment on recognition as an illegal the orders [official documents] of Rosrybolovstvo. According to her, it will give the grounds to other public authorities ... to release animals from prison ["WHALE PRISON"].
The news at 10:16 GMT added new information about the position of the parties, at 10:34 GMT - comment of the lawyer of the organization "Environmental watchkeeping of Sakhalin" " [https://tass.ru/obschestvo/6493241?utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=desktop]
On May 31, 2019 22:57
Translation from Russian into English: June 2, 2019 09:14.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский "Рассказ об интересе к Новой Земле и к белым медведям 31 мая 2019 г.".