An average of 450 poaching cases are reported in Cyprus every year, according to the head of the Game and Fauna Service, Pantelis Chatzigerou, who told the HouseEnvironment Committee on Wednesday that repeat professional poachers were not receiving sufficiently deterrent penalties.
Chatzigerou said the service receives complaints on a daily basis and that four or five professional poachers are reported each year. However, he said the penalties imposed on these repeat offenders were not sufficiently deterrent.
The committee was discussing, on its own initiative, the activities of specificenvironmental activist organisations and activists following a proposal by ELAM MPsLinos Papagiannis and Linos Ioannou Hadjigeorgiou.
The discussion also covered allegations concerning the conduct of environmental activists, the protection of lawful hunting, illegal poaching and the role of stateauthorities in enforcing environmental legislation.
Government preparing tougher environmental crime legislation
A representative of the Law Office told MPs that legislation linking environmental crime to its financial dimension would be submitted during the first half of 2027.
The proposed legislation would provide for tougher penalties for both legal entities and individuals, she said.
Chatzigerou also said legislation was being prepared to protect lawful hunting frompotential harassment. Among its provisions would be a ban on the use of drones duringhunting activities.
The head of the Game and Fauna Service said there needed to be a clear distinction between lawful hunting and poaching.
He also stressed that the service had an excellent working relationship with environmental organisations.
“We have excellent cooperation with environmental organisations,” Chatzigerou said, adding that the service was making a major effort to protect the environment.
He said that, in the past, the problem had involved certain activist organisations believing they had the right to intervene in the work of the authorities, but added that such incidents now occurred to a lesser extent.
MPs divided over activists' role
All MPs who spoke during the session called for illegal activity to be tackled regardless of where it originated.
However, ELAM and AKEL MPs clashed over the focus of the discussion and allegations concerning environmental activists.
Environment Committee chairman Linos Papagiannis said there were testimonies and complaints alleging that a specific environmental activist organisation was committing violations of the Criminal Code on a weekly basis.
He also claimed that information had been submitted to the Ministry of Justice concerning the organisation's mapping of Cyprus and alleged links with the north of the island.
Hadjigeorgiou called for an update on the progress of police investigations into complaints before the authorities.
AKEL parliamentary spokesman Giorgos Loukaidis, however, accused the committee of effectively targeting environmental organisations through the registration of the issue.
He questioned how many convictions had been secured for harassment of lawfulhunters and stressed that the law and its enforcement should be protected.
“We will not turn the law upside down to defend those acting illegally,” Loukaidis said.
Papagiannis responded by alleging that police officers were intimidated by the activities of the organisation in question, which he said was not based in Cyprus.
Loukaidis rejected the characterisation, saying threats against game wardens came from criminal elements exploiting profits generated through illegal activities.
Calls for all sides to operate within the law
DIKO president Nikolas Papadopoulos noted that Cyprus had ratified the AarhusConvention in 2003.
Environmental organisations and activists should not be criminalised, he said, whilestressing that nobody could be above the law.
Alma Movement president Odysseas Michaelides said it should also be established whether activists had, in some cases, exposed shortcomings by authorities in tackling poaching.
Alma MP Litsa Drousiotou said Parliament should not replace the competent authorities and that all parties involved should be heard.
“We will not silence either the activists or lawful hunters,” she said.
Speaking after the session, Drousiotou stressed that Parliament was not a court andsaid there should be no attempt to undermine legitimate environmental and activist organisations working to protect the environment.
At the same time, she said any illegal activity should be condemned, regardless of whether it came from organisations or hunters.
Direct Democracy MP Yiannis Laouris said NGOs had an important role to play, while expressing concern about the environmental problems facing Cyprus.
If criminal offences were committed, he said, they should be punished.
Police deny conducting joint operations with activists
ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou claimed activists had established camps in different areas and were harassing hunters.
Asked whether the police conducted coordinated operations with activist organisations, Assistant Chief of Police Ioannis Georgiou said the police had never conducted jointoperations with environmental organisations.
He said the only coordinated operations were carried out with the Game and Fauna Service.
Chatzigerou also stressed that his service did not conduct coordinated operations with any organisation other than the police.
However, he said the service received telephone complaints, which were investigated.
In one case, a complaint had been filed against activists but the Law Office had decided that the case should not proceed, he said.
“We receive complaints every day; the service's phones never stop ringing,” Chatzigerousaid.
He said information from members of the public was welcome, but stressed that citizens should not interfere with the work of the authorities because situations could becomeuncontrollable.
Game Service says 450 poaching cases reported annually
Chatzigerou said an average of 450 poaching cases were reported by the Game and Fauna Service each year.
He said that while four or five professional poachers were repeatedly reported, the penalties imposed on them were not sufficiently deterrent.
The issue of whether the Game and Fauna Service had sufficient staff was also raised during the meeting.
DISY MP Michalis Kounounis asked whether there were legislative gaps that Parliamentcould help address.
Speaking afterwards, Kounounis said poaching and the illegal trapping of wild birds had to be dealt with decisively by the competent authorities.
“No citizen or organisation can replace the police or the Game and Fauna Service andtake the law into their own hands,” he said.
He called for a framework that would protect lawful hunting, legitimate environmental activity and the effective enforcement of the law.
Authorities reject activist involvement in enforcement
DISY MP Andreas Konstantinou asked whether the Game and Fauna Service was understaffed, while AKEL MP Argentoula Ioannou asked how many complaintssubmitted by activists, including material obtained through drones, had been referred to the police.
Police representative Andreas Tziakouris told the committee that professional poachers were not receiving sufficiently deterrent sentences.
AKEL's Loukaidis said it was “tragic for Parliament” that the discussion had focused on targeting those reporting illegal activity.
Meanwhile, Papagiannis said the committee would decide when to hold its next session on the matter.
Speaking afterwards, he called on the authorities to take action against a small number of alleged professional poachers, regardless of any alleged links they might have withcriminal elements.
Hadjigeorgiou said the session had confirmed, in his view, allegations that a particular environmental organisation was involved in activities including entering private property without permission, harassing people visiting natural areas, attempting to replace competent authorities, disturbing lawful hunters and illegally operating drones.
He said the authorities needed to ensure deterrent penalties for genuine poaching whilealso stopping activists who broke the law.
Competing claims over environmental groups
Loukaidis took a different view, saying police and Game and Fauna Servicerepresentatives had confirmed that outstanding complaints against environmental organisations and activists had come from poachers themselves.
He argued that the issue therefore had no connection with the overwhelming majority of hunters and said attempts to portray environmental organisations and those reporting illegal activity as a problem had failed.
DIKO MP Chrysanthos Savvidis said the focus should be on ensuring that the courtsimposed more stringent penalties on the small number of repeat poachers who were regularly apprehended.
He said information from activists or any other members of the public was welcome, but stressed that those providing information also had to operate fully within the law.
The Environment Committee is expected to decide on the timing of its next discussion of the issue, while the proposed environmental crime legislation is expected to comebefore Parliament in the first half of 2027.
Source: CNA
