galapagos
CNH Tours - Cultural and Natural Heritage Tours Galapagos
Tuesday October 1, 2019
Tortoise thief placed in preventive detention
(Google translated, with some edits, from a Spanish language version published in El Comercio, on 29 September 2019)
A judge of the Judicial Unit of Santa Cruz, in Galapagos, ruled for the preventive detention against the accused (whose name is witheld from publication) for his alleged participation in the theft of 123 baby giant tortoises.
The crime took place in September 2018. The offspring were extracted from a breeding center in the Galapagos Islands, which is also a protected area of the country. For the alleged crime against protected flora and fauna, stipulated in article 247 of the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP), the judge ruled on the morning of this Saturday, September 28, 2019, preventive detention against the person involved and initiated fiscal instruction for 90 days .
CNH TOURS ADDS
Ecuador has changed a lot in the past 15 years in regards to the prosecution of environmental crimes. News stories on our CNH Tours news site over the past many years illustrate how, on several occasions, both nationals and foreigners have been charged and have served (or continue to serve) jail sentences for illegal fishing, or smuggling of wildlife.
One of our old friends Hugo Echeverria, has been championing stronger wildlife and environmental laws and has almost singlehandedly helped propel Ecuadorion jurisprudence to this new level. We're very pleased to see these changes.
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