The District Court in Bolesławiec rejected the prosecutor’s motion for conditional discontinuance of criminal proceedings against the hunter in the case concerning the death of an injured roe deer buck in Szczytnica. The court’s decision was announced by the Niech Żyją! Foundation, which joined the proceedings.
The case concerns an incident from April this year. An injured roe deer, probably hit by a car, was found in Szczytnica. Among others, a hunter arrived at the scene and, according to earlier findings, decided to euthanize the animal.
In June, the prosecutor’s office announced that the man had been charged under Article 35(1) of the Animal Protection Act. Then, after the preparatory proceedings had ended, the prosecutor submitted a motion to the court for conditional discontinuance of the proceedings. At the time, investigators concluded that the degree of fault and social harm caused by the act was not substantial.
However, the court rejected the motion. As reported by the Niech Żyją! Foundation, the case was referred to trial.
The Foundation challenged the discontinuance
Niech Żyją! Foundation:
Our Foundation, represented by attorney Angelika Kimbort-Stępniak, joined this case and challenged the claim that all the circumstances of the case had been sufficiently clarified during the preparatory proceedings and justified granting the hunter the benefit of conditional discontinuance of the proceedings.
An expert opinion is important to the case. The organization said:
The case is not black and white, and the expert opinion, whose details we cannot yet publish, has raised more questions than answers.
The Foundation also disagrees with the prosecutor’s assessment:
We also disagree with the prosecutor that the fault and social harm caused by the act in this case are insignificant – death by inflicting knife blows, which was supposed to shorten the animal’s suffering, cannot be considered humane, especially since existing alternative options were not used.
Now there will be a trial
The court’s decision means that the case will not end at the stage of considering the motion for conditional discontinuance. According to information provided by the Foundation, the court will conduct full evidentiary proceedings.
Witnesses are also to be questioned who, according to the Foundation, were omitted during the preparatory proceedings:
The case has been referred to trial, and the court will issue a verdict after conducting full evidentiary proceedings and questioning the witnesses who were omitted during the preparatory proceedings.
The widely reported case from Szczytnica
The case became widely known after a recording documenting part of the incident appeared online. Interest was also drawn by the activities of the Klekusiowo Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre, which publicized the case and, like the Niech Żyją! Foundation, exercises the rights of an auxiliary prosecutor.
The Niech Żyją! Foundation emphasizes that its arguments convinced the court that conditional discontinuance of the proceedings at this stage would be premature.
We will return to the subject.