Two years ago, in the heart of winter, owners of Ariège land had discovered the massacre. Woods that they had taken years to see grow had been completely raked, without anyone ever asking them, in the communes of Perles-et-Castelet and Fougax-et-Barrineuf. Centennial oaks, firs, spruces, everything was there. A dozen individuals had filed a complaint against this raid perpetrated illegally by a professional.
After a thorough investigation, and thanks to the geolocation of his trucks, a Spanish lumberjack had ended up being found. A year ago, at first instance, Manuel Bautista was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, nine of which were suspended, for theft with damage and destruction of wood.
“Materially, it’s not him”
The Toulouse Court of Appeal has just confirmed, this Thursday, the guilt of this Spanish logger and sentenced him to two years in prison, suspended. It did not follow the request for reclassification of the offense counts and acquittal pleaded by the defence. But, it however exempted him from a fine of 40,000 euros on a personal basis. And has also reduced the fine against his company Explotacions Forestals Bautista to 80,000 euros, initially set at 100,000 euros at first instance.
At the helm, the contractor pleaded error, ensuring that he had not ordered the specific cutting of these trees to his employees or subcontractors. “Materially, it is not he who stole the wood,” reaffirmed his lawyer Mathieu Pons-Serradeil on Thursday, who indicated that he would appeal to the Court of Cassation so that his client be judged according to forestry law and not general law. “I have the impression that my client is undergoing the crystallization of all the cases that there may have been in France, elucidated or not, of tree theft”, he lamented.
On the side of the civil parties, this judgment is “a little disappointing”, indicates Laure Saint-Germaes, who defends nine of the thirteen plaintiffs.