Press release - 2013-02-04 - No. 014

Email to a friend   Print

The judges of the Court of Criminal First Galapagos reported that the penalty shall be served in Guayaquil.

The German citizen Dirk Bender will serve a sentence of four years in prison as stated in the judgment reported today by the President and judges of the First Court of Criminal Galapagos, which last January 5 declared him guilty of extraction species.

In the letter, the judges clarified that the sentence will be fulfilled in the Deprivation of Liberty Center for Adult in Conflict with the Law, Section Men of Guayaquil, because in the Special Regime of the Galapagos province prison there . The document stipulates that the penalty should be deducted from the time the defendant was deprived of his liberty found.

Dirk Bender, a lifeline of 32, was accused by the Galapagos National Park Service (GNPS) for disturbing the local ecosystem of the archipelago, while trying to remove four unauthorized land iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus) in July last year.

The Court also declared a six to place the private prosecution of Galapagos National Park Director Edwin Naula, and sentenced the defendant to pay the damages caused by the infringement.

Earlier this year, the Court found that it was proven the existence of an offense under Article 437-F paragraph b of the Criminal Code, he who hunt, capture, collect, remove or markets, flora or fauna species that are legally protected contravention of the laws and regulations on the matter, shall be punished with imprisonment of one to three years. Literal b) The act is committed against endangered species, increasing the penalty for the crime of two to four years.

Subcristatus Conoluphus The species is within the vulnerable category of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources), due to a significant decline or population fragmentation. Also within the Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which are not currently threatened species, but this pace could be soon. In 1975, Ecuador ratified the agreement signed by over 160 countries. Only 37 live in Galapagos species included in the CITES Appendices.