Sochi: two pensioners' fight against tree felling ended in criminal case against them

A retired couple has been charged with illegal felling of trees. The pensioners themselves fought for the preservation of trees in Sochi. According to them, they were revenged for their fight.

On August 18, an investigator of the department of the Central District of Sochi summoned Klara and Valentin Donchi-oll, 73-year-old pensioners. The pensioners were informed that a criminal case had been instituted against them on the fact of illegal felling of trees in the local area of the house in No. 4a in Stroitelny Lane. The pensioners were handed in the resolution on their involvement in the criminal case as defendants.

According to the letter issued by the Prosecutor's Office and signed by S. Zhuravlyov, First Deputy Prosecutor of the city of Sochi, "a criminal case was instituted on the statement filed by the Donchi-oll couple on illegal felling of trees."

The pensioners themselves have told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that earlier, they had filed a complaint to Sochi Prosecutor Mark Bolshedvorsky about the lack of response to their numerous complaints about felling of trees in the local area arranged by new tenants, who needed parking lots for their cars instead of the green space.

"I and my wife have filed a complaint to the Prosecutor about the inaction of the police. And we have received from him a wonderful news that on the basis of our complaint on destruction of the green space, a criminal case was instituted against us," said Valentin Donchi-oll, a circus artist, a veteran of labour, and a member of the Sochi national monitoring.

"We have never fell trees. We just plant trees and try to save them from savages," stated Klara Donchi-oll.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been told by Anatoly Eroshenko, an advocate of the spouses, that it is the first time in his practice when at a complaint about a crime filed to the police the prosecutors suddenly institute criminal proceedings against the very persons who had filed the complaint against other people.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.