800,000 bees are dead: the process continues

On Wednesday, the lawsuit against a fruit producer in the Lavant Valley continues. He is accused of having deliberately blamed the death of 800,000 bees using a pesticide.

The accused, the chairman of the Kärntner Obstbauverbandes Dietmar Kainz, is accused of deliberately damaging the environment. In early May of last year, he had sprayed pesticides on his orchards in the Lavant Valley. Kainz confirms it too. According to the indictment, he should therefore be responsible for the death of 66 colonies of bees. According to the injury survey, about 800,000 bees died shortly after the pesticide spraying. The damage is 20 000 €

At the first hearing in early June, Kainz was accused by witnesses of having sprayed the pesticides at the apogee – more on the fruit growers for the mortality of bees in court. As a result, he exposed the bees on their pollination flights to the toxic pesticide. According to a beekeeper, the bees would then have lost their orientation and would not find their way back to the hive

A fruit grower did not plead guilty

Kainz himself said that he had spray the pesticide according to the regulations. He sprayed only in the morning and in the evening, since there is no bee stealing at that time. Witnesses disagreed that Kainz had also used unapproved pesticides

On Wednesday, several commentators will discuss the spray and pesticides used, as well as other witnesses. At the first date of the lawsuit, the fruit farmer did not plead guilty. Before the trial, Kainz did not want to say anything more, he wanted to wait for the result first, he told the ORF

A three year sentence of imprisonment

In sentencing case, the penalty is three years imprisonment. For Kainz, the presumption of innocence applies. Kainz is still president of Kärntner Obstbauverband. In case of verdict, he should resign himself, if possible Siegfried Quendler, general manager of the Orchard Association. Otherwise, the badociation will decide to exclude Kainz.

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