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October 30, 2005
Metsähallitus ignores court order
On 26th October the district court in Lapland ordered that all logging has to be stopped in the reindeer grazing forests in Nellim, Inari. According to the Finnish National Broadcasting news, Yle, Metsähallitus is not going to stop its logging operations unless it gets an official "final decision" by the rural police chief of Inari.
Reindeer herders in Nellim decided they will bring a suit against the logging, which was started earlier in October. In order to safeguard their rights they asked the district court for precautionary measures. Therefore, on October 26th, the court gave an urgent decision, ordering Metsähallitus to stop the logging. As an answer, Metsähallitus announced that until they will officially receive the order they will continue logging as normal. According to Yle TV news Metsähallitus is also going to demand a compensation of hundreds of thousands of euros if the logging has to be stopped.
The Finnish Sámi Reindeer Herders Association has appealed to the Finnish government to make Metsähallitus obey orders by a lawful court. Read the Sámi reindeer herders' whole press release here.
Posted by Satu Pitkanen at October 30, 2005 11:53 AM
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