Source: United States Department of Justice
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), in partnership with the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law and the Independent Forest Monitoring Network, last month participated in a training workshop for 25 Indonesian law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges on addressing illegal timber and wildlife trafficking crimes.
ENRD Senior Counsel Laurie Dubriel Addresses Workshop Attendees.
The Lacey Act is one of the United States’ oldest federal wildlife laws. Since 2008, it has made it illegal to import into the United States plants and plant products that have been harvested and exported in violation of the laws of another country. Thus, it can be a tool to help address illegal logging and associated trade, which is one of the most profitable forms of transnational crimes worldwide.
Familiarizing Indonesian officials with the U.S. Lacey Act, and how it supports Indonesian law and Indonesia’s timber verification system, was a point of emphasis at the workshop. The Justice Department also highlighted how bilateral law enforcement and prosecutorial efforts are connected.
A tree near the anti-trafficking workshop.
Other workshop topics included Indonesian criminal code and procedure and prosecution of animal crush videos. Specifically, individuals in Indonesia have created monkey torture videos for individuals in the United States. ENRD has recently charged and prosecuted many individuals in the United States for creating and distributing animal crush videos including Robert Berndt, of Philadelphia; Garrett Fitzgerald, of Massachusetts; Robert Craig, of Charlotte; Giancarlo Morelli, of New Jersey; Katrina Favret, of Tennessee; Ronald Bedra, of Ohio; and Kenneth Herrera, of Wisconsin.
The U.S. State Department funded the workshop. In addition to DOJ, this workshop was supported by U.S. law enforcement officers, analysts, and forensic scientists from the Customs and Border Protection, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and Homeland Security Investigations.