Two trees stolen from downtown Baku: culprits unknown
Two perennial ash trees were cut down on Istiglaliyat Street, one of Baku’s central thoroughfares, and taken away by unidentified suspects in plain sight of the passers-by. Witnesses posted about the incident on social networks and called the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources who is responsible for overseeing urban green spaces.
A tree can be legally felled only with the permission of the Ministry of Ecology, and only for sufficient reason (if, for example, it is dried or damaged and can fall down posing a risk to public safety). There is a corresponding article for illegal logging in the Administrative and Criminal Codes of Azerbaijan. Depending on the amount of damage, the offence is punishable by several thousand Manats fine or even two years in prison.
Representatives of the Ministry arrived on the scene to confirm that the trees were stolen. They estimate the damage at 2 400 Manat (about USD 1 400). The press service of the Ministry said that the police are already looking for the perpetrators. In the few days since then, no traces of either the ash trees or the perpetrators have been found.
The situation spurred ironic responses on social networks. People were surprised how two huge trees could simply have been cut down in the center of the city and taken away without someone’s knowledge. Moreover, all this happened just a few meters from the Baku City Hall.
A few typical comments:
“They announced a search?))) And then they do not know who did it. What a difficult task for the poor police!”
“I want to offer them my help.”
Scandals involving trees being cut down often occur in Baku. The usual reason for illegal logging is that trees interfere with the construction of a commercial site. A similar incident occurred just over a year ago in July 2017. Three persons were arrested for illegally cutting down several trees during construction work. A similar problem exists in the peripheries where local forests are often thinned out, for example, for firewood in the winter (for lack of other kinds of heating sources).
In 2017, around three hundred people were fined all over Azerbaijan.
