As it became known“”, the court of the city of Nuwara Eliya (Sri Lanka) started to consider the criminal case of the accused in poaching Russian entomologist and lover of Alexander Ignatenko. The employee of the zoo of Rostov-on-don and two of his pals charged with catching, killing and appropriating 277 small animals, for which they face fines equivalent to 4 million rubles, or 40-year terms. Russian scientists, proving the innocence of colleagues, conducted a review, according to which all of the trophies Mr. Ignatenko rare and in need of protection are the butterflies and five reptiles. All the rest, according to experts, widespread, and some even are harmful to agriculture.At the first meeting of the magistrate’s court of Nuwara Eliya discussed mainly the request of the parties. The attorney representing the defendants Alexander Ignatenko, Nicholas Kalapana and Artem Ryabov, said the gross violation of their rights during detention and preliminary investigation. The Russians, he said, did not provide lawyers, interpreters, conducted the search and seizure of the local fauna was conducted without witnesses and was not documented by the Protocol. Unfounded the content of entomologists-Amateurs detained in the chamber for 90 people, according to the defender, caused exacerbation of gastric ulcer Alexander Ignatenko, which he was in the hospital.About the violation of the rights of the accused stated and is involved in the process, the representative of the Russian Consulate in Sri Lanka, but the main argument of protection was the independent conclusion of the Russian experts-biologists who have analyzed their sane compatriots in the wine quantity and quality presumably killed and stolen animals.After reviewing the plot of the charges, the Russian biologists came to the conclusion that most of discovered 277 Alexander Ignatenko and his buddies “evidence” the local experts were unable to accurately identify. They only identified them as belonging to huge genera or families of tropical fauna, and therefore to talk about biological value undetermined, in fact, animals is pointless. 33 object, which the investigation failed to identify up to species, according to scientists, is also questionable evidence. The conclusion was that almost all of them are endemic (unique) to Sri Lanka, the majority of species were recorded in other countries, and some even had a “cosmopolitan distribution”.For example, the experts considered that the two patterned tarantula, found in Alexander Ignatenko, was included in the Red list of Sri Lanka mistakenly, because their populations are not threatened: both spider “bred throughout the world as Pets” and even used to collect venom for research purposes. Chase entomologists-Amateurs-selected for their giant snail-Achatina, according to biologists, even funny. They are sold at a price of 50-100 RUB even in Moscow, pet stores, and Ceylon, as stated in the conclusion, facename, causing “significant damage to crops”, you have to fight. Seven species incriminated tourists butterflies of the Russian experts ruled out the charges on a geographical basis. As it turned out, these insects, because of their biological characteristics simply could not rise to the Horton Plains reserve, located at an altitude of 2100-2300 m. above sea level. And modern representatives of a small family of riders Pelecinidae (mostly it is represented by the extinct species) contained in the charges, generally are found only in the Western hemisphere.Scientists from Russia admitted unfounded accusations entomologists and Amateurs in the theft of Ceylon plants — they allegedly planned to use fees for treatment of cancer. Eight of the nine mentioned in the indictment samples of flora, such as mangoes or apples and sour cream, according to experts, can be bought “in any market in the countries of South and South-East Asia.” Endemic to mountain areas of southern Ceylon experts considered only incriminated Mr. Ignatenko flowers Osbeckia lanata, however, as appears from the conclusion, samples of this really rare shrub local experts could be mixed with fragments of similar, but not legally protected plants from the same family.Thus, the Russian scientists came to the conclusion that of all the suspicious from the point of view of the Sri Lankan investigation findings in addition to Osbeckia lanata deserve the attention of only dried tropical butterfly called “Spotted Joker” and five captured alive reptiles: Sri Lankan nosed Copperhead, chernogory Kalat, shishkanova Agama, spotted polopoly Gecko and severozemelsky kryvopillya Gecko.However, even in this case, the result, based on the findings Lankan scientists made serious mistakes, consider them colleagues. The accused was charged with, for example, theft of scarab beetles, spiders and bedbugs gotonoga-chinetov, but failed to classify “victims” and even correctly specify their names in Latin. “This suggests that the involved consequence experts in most cases were not experts and could not be mistaken in the taxonomic affiliation of all the material”,— said in the conclusion.One of the authors of this document, senior researcher of the Zoological Institute RAS Dmitry Gapon explained “Kommersant” that the opinion was signed by 11 leading Russian biologists, whose opinion ��avtoritetno and in the international scientific community. Among them — the Director of the Zoological Institute, RAS corresponding member Nikita Chernetsov, the President of the Russian Botanical society Leonid Averyanov, five doctors and four candidates of biological Sciences. “I am convinced that the findings of scientists from any other country in the world will be similar to ours,— said Mr. Hapon.— After all, no expert assessment can not be contrary to the objective knowledge accumulated by the international scientific community about certain objects or phenomena.”Vice-President of the Russian branch of the International Committee for the protection of human rights Ivan Melnikov also believes that the court should listen to the opinion of Russian experts, and the conclusion will play a crucial role in the fate of the three accused. Human rights activist Melnikov believes that the criminal persecution of the Russians was organized in a “commercial” purposes. According to him, in the event of conviction about a quarter of the amount designated by the court and paid the fine the accused will receive the Horton Plains nature reserve. There in accordance with local laws material will encourage the guards, catching poachers, and experts who gave the “right” skills to the damage inflicted. Given that the proceedings of such incidents are usually interested law enforcement officers, lawyers, etc., “hunt for poachers”, according to Mr. Melnikov, set in Sri Lanka on stream.We will remind, Alexander Ignatenko and his two friends were arrested in February this year, the guards of the Horton Plains nature reserve in the mountainous part of Ceylon. During the search they found the vial with dead bugs and in the car and hotel rooms — boxes with other representatives of the fauna of Ceylon. The investigation has decided that young people used to catch animals in the reserve and killed some chemical substance from the chest of Mr. Ignatenko. According to themselves the defendants in the case, they only collected the dead bodies — for example, insects, hit by a car on the roadside and died in the ceiling fixtures.Sergei Mashkin
