The Kamchatka Regional Court found the general director of the falcon center «Kamchatka» Shukhrat Razakov guilty of illegal hunting and trafficking of especially valuable wild animals (Part 3 of Article 258.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He was sentenced to 5.5 years probation, as well as a fine of — 1.5 million rubles. The verdict entered into legal force, reports IA «Kamchatka».
It has been proven that Razakov hired two specialists to catch 13 gyrfalcons, which they did. The defendant insisted that the birds of prey were caught legally, for scientific purposes. However, the court did not agree with these arguments.
According to the court verdict, Razakov is prohibited from engaging in activities related to the extraction, breeding and keeping of wild animals for a period of 4 years.
The Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky court began considering the falcon center case in the first instance in August of this year. There were three accused — Shukhrat Razakov, ecologist Vadim Bondarenko and hunter Oleg Yakimovich. All were accused of illegal hunting and trafficking of especially valuable bird species listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. Everyone faced up to 8 years in prison, because the crime was committed by an organized group, and this is a serious qualification.
Shukhrat Razakov — scientist and entrepreneur. In 2019, he was part of the Russian delegation during the President’s trip to the Middle East. On behalf of the head of Russia, «falconer» presented the Kamchatka gyrfalcon as a gift to the kings of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The falcon center «Kamchatka» was opened in the Milkovsky district of the region in 2022.
Specialists from the falcon center openly stated that the organization would facilitate the export of birds to the Middle East. They are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a female white Kamchatka gyrfalcon. Of course, there was no talk of poaching. It was planned to sell birds born directly in the center. For the first time in Russia, it was planned to organize the reproduction of the gyrfalcon, the most valuable and rare species of falconiformes.
Falcon poaching has been thriving in Kamchatka for more than 30 years. The «Kamchatka» center was conceived as a global alternative to the illegal trafficking of Red Book birds. Work with gyrfalcons in the center seemed to be controlled and approved by a certain scientific group. But such control did not prevent the director of the center from becoming a poacher himself.
According to the telegram channel «Tsargrad», the falcons caught by the criminal group ended up in the zoo and were kept there without proper care. Two dead birds and 11 falcons were reported, which security forces returned sick.
During the trial, a number of influential Russian media actively sought flaws in the activities of the court and the investigation in the Razakov case. Probably, these and other circumstances could have caused a lenient sentence (as the judges say, «below the lowest») under a serious offense.