The man was sentenced to prison at first instance before having his sentence reduced on appeal.
He had come to cut down around a hundred century-old oaks and more than 300 fir or spruce trees illegally. This particularly indelicate Spanish lumberjack had operated in 2020 and 2021 in the town of Perles-et-Castelet, located in Ariège near the Ax-3 domaine ski resort. Trees that he then transported to Spain, injuring 21 private woodland owners in the process.
He was sentenced to two years in prison after appealing, thus receiving a less severe sentence than at first instance where the prosecutor had castigated “a pillaging of the forests of Ariège” and a procedure which consists of “to pass by force even if it means compensation later” the owners if they come forward. It remained to assess the amount of compensation for his victims which had been reserved.
The court rendered its decision this Tuesday, December 10, reports France Bleu. The material damage is estimated at 230,000 euros. The logger will also have to pay moral damages for the victims, estimated at 36,000 euros. Finally, he will have to pay several thousand euros in lawyer fees. The total amount amounts to almost 300,000 euros.
The business manager of this logging operation in Lérida had tried to justify himself by explaining that it was “errors” of his technicians who had not understood his instructions, explained Le Figaro during the first hearing.
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