Belarusian worker convicted of cutting down more than 100 trees in the Moscow region

The violator claimed to have received instructions from the boss, although he denied it

The language barrier, which made it difficult to understand what exactly the employer wants, led the citizen of Belarus to the dock. The man was accused of illegally cutting down 138 trees. He assures that he received such an instruction from the foreign owner of the summer cottage. And the boss claims that he only asked to get rid of dead wood and rotten plants.

As “MK” found out, a case with unusual circumstances was considered the other day in the Dmitrovsky court. A citizen of Belarus, Yevgeny Genin (all names have been changed), was caught red-handed cutting down a forest near the village of Elizavetino. A local resident heard the noise of a chainsaw, suspected something bad and called the police. The arriving outfit found the oil painting: a man with a chainsaw was cracking down on green spaces. He met the law enforcement officers with foul language and a demand to leave him alone, but they quickly pacified his ardor.

Genin said that he was fulfilling the request of the chief, who has permits for felling. The man explained that he was cleaning a bike path in a forest area adjacent to his employer’s summer cottage. Eugene lives permanently in the owner’s house and takes care of the household.

The guardians of the law went to the owner of the dacha. It turned out to be a well-known entrepreneur of foreign origin in the district. In particular, recently a man organized a cycling club, which he named after himself. With the onset of spring, he asked the worker to clean up the bike path in the forest, which is located outside the country house. The worker was required to remove dirty snow, debris, leaves, branches that had fallen after strong winds and trees felled by the elements. The businessman assured that he did not ask to cut living trees.

Nevertheless, Genin claimed that the boss asked not only to remove the garbage, but also to cut down and cut out shrubs and trees that are located in the immediate vicinity of the bike path. The cut trees had to be laid along the path, in places where there were no restrictions. Moreover, according to him, the owner regularly checked how he copes with the work, and was satisfied. Another worker, who testified as a witness, explained that the entrepreneur has a strong accent – this feature often makes it difficult to understand the meaning of what he said.

However, even if there was a misunderstanding, it was not the employer, but the contractor who had to be responsible for what he had done. Yevgeny was accused of illegally cutting down 138 trees. He sawed down 24 maples, 31 aspens, 8 oaks, 13 bird cherry trees, 2 birch trees, 2 elm trees and 58 black alder trunks – which caused damage to the forestry on an especially large scale. The court found Genin guilty and sentenced him to a suspended sentence of one and a half years in prison. Also, the convict was assigned a probationary period for one year, during which he must prove his correction by his behavior.