MOSCOW, August 19 (RAPSI) – A court in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East has sentenced a local resident to seven months of compulsory community service for the attempted sale of skin of rare Amur leopard, Andrei Borodin, Director of Land of the Leopard National Park, said on Tuesday.
The convicted person will pay 5% of his income to the state.

This is the first verdict passed by a court in Russia’s Primorye Territory under Article 258.1 (Poaching, capturing and selling valuable wild animals listed in the Red Data Book) of the national Criminal Code. Previously, the storage of animal products from animals listed in the Red Data Book or the sales of such items were not considered criminal offenses.

This new article was added to the Russian Criminal Code in July 2013 with the support of Sergei Ivanov, Head of the Presidential Executive Office. The article stipulates criminal liability for poaching, capturing, acquiring, keeping, delivering or selling rare wild animals.

“It’s great that the first verdict has been passed under this article on rare animals,” Borodin said. “A Khabarovsk territory suspect was sentenced under this article,” he added. “This is important because it shows that the law is being enforced, and we’re confident that a more severe punishment will reduce the number of rare animals being killed by poachers,” he noted.