MOSCOW, June 23 (RAPSI) – The Achinsk Alumina Refinery, a subsidiary of Russian aluminum giant Rusal, which was slapped with a 408-million-rubles ($7.6 million) fine over pollution of farmland in Siberia will file an appeal, Rusal’s press service told RAPSI on Tuesday.

“Rusal Achinsk (Achinsk Alumina Refinery) will file an appeal under the established procedure, because it considers the fine to be excessive,” a Rusal official said.

A court has ruled in favor of the Krasnoyarsk Environmental Protection Prosecutor’s Office, which requested that the court order Rusal Achinsk to pay 408 million rubles ($7.6 million) for contaminating farmland.

The lawsuit was filed after an audit, which showed that Rusal Achinsk contaminated over 10 hectares (100,000 square meters) of farmland with industrial waste water that seeped from a sludge depository due to the lack of proper containment equipment.

The audit results were sent to investigative authorities with a petition that the guilty parties be tried and penalized for violating the processing regulations for environmentally dangerous waste, which resulted in the contamination.