14/09/2023

Continued trial of Zijin company for the criminal offense of Environmental Pollution (VIDEO)

In the Basic Court in Bor, a hearing was held today in the trial against the accused, the company “Zijin Cooper Bor,” and the responsible person, according to the indictment of the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bor for the criminal offense of Environmental Pollution. The Criminal Code prescribes a special group of criminal offenses against the environment, and in this specific case, for the qualified form with intent, the penalty for a legal entity ranges from five to ten million dinars.

Prosecutor Marina Ćirić stated today that she is withdrawing from further prosecuting the accused Jiang Si Ming because the defense submitted a motion in May of this year with evidence that the person responsible for environmental protection at the exploitation holder was Boban Todorović. During the critical period (2019-2020), he held the position of Deputy Director for Production – Branch TIR “Serbia Zijin Copper,” and by the nature of his job and the decision of the general director, he was responsible for organizing, implementing, and improving activities for water and environmental protection. The prosecution also proposed calling an expert who determined the state mentioned in the indictment regarding exceeded values of heavy metals – arsenic, mercury, and cadmium.

For today’s trial, environmental associations from Bor and Zaječar, involved in the project “Environmental Response in Timočka Krajina,” showed interest. They also state that they will follow the main hearing scheduled for November 2nd at 12 o’clock.

The proceeding has been marked by numerous postponements since it was initiated following a criminal report by RERI. The main hearing was initially scheduled for December 6th of the previous year but was postponed to February 21st due to an official trip by Zijin representatives. It was then rescheduled for April 25th. Another postponement occurred on June 15th.

Source: Zamedia

This media content was produced within the project “Environmental response to mining expansion in Timočka Krajina” funded by the European Union, and implemented by the Association “Za Drinking Fountains”, the Association of Young Researchers Bor, Civic Library “Europe” Bor and Children’s Center Zaječar. The content of the text is entirely responsibility of these associations and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.