A sentence has been handed down in the Akmola Region to a group of individuals found guilty of illegal fishing in Lake Zhukey within the territory of the Burabay State National Nature Park.
According to the regional prosecutor's office press service, the case was investigated under Article 335, Part 4, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("Illegal extraction of fish resources, other aquatic animals or plants").
The investigation established that in September last year, three citizens, using inflatable boats and fishing nets during the night, illegally caught more than 640 kg of fish from the lake.
The amount of damage caused to the state exceeded 9 million tenge. The prosecutor of the Birzhan sal district sent the case to the specialised inter-district criminal court of the Akmola Region.
By court verdict, the three defendants were found guilty and sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment with a ban on engaging in fishing activities for 5 years.
It will be recalled that the detention of the defendants in this case was reported in September last year. As noted, this was the largest case of fish poaching within the national park in the last 5 years.
Five days later, a poacher from the Turkestan Region was detained on Lake Zhukey. In the boot of his car, investigators found 160 kg of fish, a rubber boat and fishing nets.
Later, police detained three suspects for illegal fishing on the water body – they turned out to be two residents of Astana and a native of the Zhambyl Region, previously repeatedly criminally prosecuted. At the scene, fish with a total weight of 132 kg was seized.