Courts convict, but fines are cut
Contradictory court decisions and local authorities’ inexplicable leniency ensure that cases of environmental regulation violations drag for a long time and the violations remain unpunished, despite the best efforts of environmental NGOs.
One such case involves a series of illegal constructions, by the same person, inside a national park on the Ionian island of Zakynthos.
In 2015, park wardens noticed illegal construction on a steep slope between two beaches, including a one-kilometer long road connecting the ridge with the beaches. The management agency of the park, which is set in a Natura protected area, and four environmental organizations sued.
A local authority investigation in 2016 confirmed the complaint. The owner of the land up on the ridge was fined €200,000 in 2018, but the park said he continued to expand construction. The regional authority responded with an inspection in 2021 and concluded that “essentially, there is no environmental degradation.” The fine was cut to €10,000 in 2022.
A criminal court in the western port city of Patra convicted the proprietor to a suspended 10-month sentence in 2023 – a judgment confirmed by the Supreme Court – but an administrative court in another city quashed the reduced fine earlier this year, accepting the defendant’s claim that the land is farmland and that he didn’t build the road but merely improved an existing trail.
The region opted not to appeal this latest judgment, but WWF Hellas, the Greek chapter of the global NGO World Wildlife Fund did. The appeal will be heard in September.
