Crime and Punishment
In 2006, a businessman decided to build a mansion in the eastern hills of the city of Bogotá illegally. Despite the fact that it is a reserve zone, he did not hesitate to design his luxurious house and modify the vegetation and invade the surface waters of the Los Rosales stream. This is a work that has been in the eye of the storm because of the irreparable environmental damages caused by its construction, “It caused the felling of native forest, the lack of management and invasion of a body of water, in this case the Los Rosales creek; damage to water resources, soil, vegetation, fauna, among other damages” according to the court.
The businessman did not have any environmental permit for this activity, in addition, according to the investigations, he disregarded the calls of attention from the authorities, displaying a behavior that constituted an infraction to the criminal law, acting with malice, therefore, a criminal lawsuit was incurred for the impacts generated by his activity, in first instance the businessman was acquitted by a judge of knowledge who did not find any responsibility or participation of the businessman in the illicit.
In a second instance ruling, the court overturned the first ruling that found him not guilty and sentenced the businessman to seven and a half years in prison and a fine of 1250 legal minimum wages for the crimes of damage to natural resources in concurrence with invasion of areas of special ecological importance.
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