MOSCOW, March 17 (RAPSI) – The Baikal Interregional Environmental Prosecutor's Office examined recommendations the Presidential Council for Human Rights presented basing on the results of its on-site session in the Irkutsk Region and undertook a number of inspections, which revealed large-scale violations of law in specially protected natural areas and touristic zones around Baikal, the Council’s press-service informs on Tuesday.

The Council worked in the Irkutsk Region last February; at that time its members received an enormous number of complaints from local residents. We visited a lot of “hot spots” across the region, among them those in forest areas and on Baikal shores, we presented our observations to the Prosecutor’s Office. The information we provided has been confirmed via inspections, so we hope the Irkutsk regional authorities will be more responsible as concerns the valuable local forests and lake Baikal, Greenpeace Russian Office Executive Director and a Council member Sergey Tsyplenkov says.

Criminal cases are opened against official allegedly responsible for the violations, the statement reads.