MOSCOW, June 24 (RAPSI) — The number of cases related to violations of the environmental legislation has increased in Russia by almost 3 times over the past 10 years, the Supreme Court Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev said during the presidium meeting on Friday.

In 2021, Russian courts heard 87,000 cases of that kind, the Supreme Court’s head added.

Lebedev also noted that the Supreme Court paid particular attention to the judicial practice aimed at the environment protection. 

Having pointed out that the share of people convicted of environmental crimes is relatively small (about 1% of all convictions), the Supreme Court’s judge Oleg Zatelepin in turn said that such crimes once done cause significant, hard to repair, and in some cases irreparable  harm to the environment.