Global – Page 60 – Earth First!

Two emails re US evidence Cherney Bari bomb

Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari were both members of the IWW at the time.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_16025546

SAN FRANCISCO — The survivor of an Oakland car bombing reopened a 20-year-old case Wednesday when he asked a federal judge to bar the FBI from destroying bomb fragments he argued could contain evidence.

Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari were both members of the IWW at the time.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_16025546

Authorities this week said they exhausted all leads and notified the lawyers that evidence from the bombing would be destroyed. Judge James Larsen ordered the FBI to preserve the evidence until the court decides how to resolve the issue.

The Earth First activist, Darryl Cherney, claimed the FBI still has two sets of bomb remnants that could contain DNA evidence, as well as a hand-lettered sign and duct tape. The evidence could lead authorities to the identity of the person who planted a bomb in Cherney’s car, which exploded in Oakland two decades ago.

Lawyers for Cherney filed the motion Wednesday before U.S. District Judge James Larsen.

Cherney won a $4.4 million lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland police for civil rights violations committed against him and fellow Earth First organizer Judi Bari related to the bombing.

The two were on their way to a Save the Redwoods Festival in Santa Cruz when the bomb exploded May 24, 1990.

The blast ripped through the floorboard, seriously injuring Bari. Cherney suffered minor injuries.

Oakland police and the FBI claimed the couple made the bomb. They said the bomb exploded accidentally and arrested Cherney and Bari on felony explosive charges. The FBI later admitted the bomb was not in the back seat as agents previously stated but that it was placed under the driver’s seat, according to a KGO Radio report.

Also, the nails in the bomb did not match others found in other parts of the car.

The charges against Bari and Cherney were later dropped by the Alameda County district attorney, who cited insufficient evidence to proceed further. Bari died of cancer in 1997.

Both charged that the FBI and Oakland police never conducted a thorough investigation, targeting only Bari and Cherney as suspects. A federal jury awarded $4.4 million to Cherney and Bari’s estate in 2002. Jury members said their civil rights were violated when the FBI and Oakland police arrested them and illegally searched their homes.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/08/BANR1FAM6L.DTL

(09-08) 16:54 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — It’s an infamous case that never seems to go away, even after millions of dollars have been paid out in civil settlements and police say the trail has gone cold.

The case is the 1990 bombing in Oakland of Earth First environmental activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney, who were nearly killed when a nail-studded explosive device blew up in their car.

Nobody was ever charged with the attack, and now, two decades later, the FBI wants to destroy the last bits of evidence it has been storing ever since the investigation dribbled dry – remnants of the bomb and one like it that blew up in a North Bay town a few days earlier.

Not so fast, says Cherney, 54, who has never given up trying to solve the case himself.

Saying in court briefs that the evidence “provides the last best hope for learning who bombed Judi Bari,” Cherney and his lawyers were in federal court Wednesday in San Francisco to try to force the FBI to turn the evidence over to them so they can run DNA and other tests on it.

They managed to get U.S. Magistrate Judge James Larson to order the evidence preserved for 30 days while he decides its fate, but the judge indicated the clock is ticking fast – and not in Cherney’s favor.
Maintaining interest

“Frankly, I think it would behoove your side to talk to someone in the attorney general’s office to see if they can get interested in this,” Larson told Cherney’s attorney, Dennis Cunningham, referring to the U.S. attorney general’s office.

The idea would be for federal authorities – or anyone involved in investigating the bombing two decades ago – to reopen the case, or at least indicate enough interest to want to hang on to the FBI’s evidence.

Failing that, the judge seemed inclined to let the agency go ahead and destroy the pieces of the explosives. He did say, however, that he would do more research and consult with those who previously dealt with the issue in court before he makes his decision.
‘Hard to accept’

That gave Cherney’s backers hope, and they said Wednesday they would be checking with investigators and prosecutors to see if anyone wants to take possession of the bomb bits.

“There’s no reason they can’t keep these two boxes,” Cunningham said. “It’s hard to accept that these things have no more use when the bomber or bombers have never been found.”

At issue are the remnants of the bomb that blew up in Bari’s car on May 24, 1990, on Park Boulevard, and of a similar device that partially exploded in Cloverdale on May 9. The Cloverdale bomb exploded at the Louisiana-Pacific Corp. mill, causing minimal damage, and was accompanied by a cardboard sign reading, “LP screws mill workers.”

Both bombs are presumed to have been made by the same person – someone who sent a letter to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, signing it as “the Lord’s Avenger” and giving details that law enforcement said only the bomber would know. The evidence is being kept in two boxes in an FBI storage room in San Francisco.
Fingerprints sought

“We need to be able to look at these bomb parts, do DNA testing on them, use them to try to find out who bombed us,” Cherney, who lives in Garberville (Humboldt County), said after the hearing. By trying to destroy the parts, he said, “the FBI is running cover for the bomber.”

He said he also wants copies of two fingerprints lifted from evidence in the case that investigators said never yielded a solid lead.

The likelihood that another agency will want to take over the evidence or reopen the case seems slim. Representatives of the Oakland Police Department and FBI said they consider the case closed, as did Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Sher when he argued on the FBI’s behalf Wednesday in court.

“We see no reason for this evidence to be retained,” Sher said after the hearing. “The investigation is done.”

The FBI, he added, doesn’t routinely hand over evidence to private citizens, especially not bombs.

Cherney and Bari were injured when the bomb, located on the floor behind the driver’s seat of her Subaru station wagon, exploded as the two were headed to a rally to begin a campaign of protests to protect old-growth forests, called Redwood Summer.

Investigators promptly branded the two as eco-terrorists, and Cherney and Bari were soon arrested on suspicion of having cobbled up the bomb themselves. But prosecutors dropped the case weeks later.
Successful civil lawsuit

The pair filed a civil lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland Police Department for false arrest and slander. Although Bari died of cancer in 1997, Cherney pursued the case until he won a $4 million settlement in 2004 from the agencies. He split the money with Bari’s estate.

“I want to make it clear,” said Cherney, who is still with Earth First. “We are going to get those bomb components. If they’re done, hand them over.”

E-mail Kevin Fagan at kfagan@sfchronicle.com.

Solidarity needed for russian anarchist forest defenders

The Russian movement to defend the Khimki forest is a movement defending all forests. If corporations and politicians working in the interest of a global neoliberal and environmentally destructive model is able to exploit the Khimki forest and continue repressing the activists in spite of a historically broad and strong movement in Russia defending the forest, than it can be done anywhere. Solidarity with the activists is the only way to both stop repression and to save the Khimki forest more permanently. Please join the action called for by our Russian friends!

Patrick Bond, Centre for Civil Society Environmental Justice Project, Durban, South Africa

Mark Brown, Art Not Oil/Rising Tide, UK

Carmen Buerba de Comite de Defensa Ecologica Michoacana, Mexico

Nicola Bullard, Focus on the Global South, Thailand

Ellie Cijvat, Friends of the Earth Sweden

Joshua Kahn Russell, Ruckus Society, USA

Tom Kucharz, Ecologistas en Acción, Spain

Maduresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements, India

Marea Creciente Mexico

Adriana Matalonga, Miguel Valencia y Mauricio Villegas from Ecomunidades and Klimaforum10, Mexico

Uddhab Pyakurel, South Asian Dialogue on Ecological Democracy, India

Josie Riffaud, Via Campesina, France

Marko Ulvila and Thomas Wallgren, Democracy Forum Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Finland

You find information and the call for action September 17-20 issued by Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages in many languages at www.khimkibattle.org. Below you find the text in English, Spanish, and French and more links on the issue.

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A Call for International Days of Action in Support of Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov

September 1720, 2010

On July 28, 2010, more than two hundred young antifascists and anarchists carried out a spontaneous demonstration outside the town administration building in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow. They demonstrated in defence of the Khimki Forest, which was at that time in the process of beings cutting down
for the needs of big business. The demonstration, during which several windows were broken, received a great deal of public attention. The authorities responded with a wave of repressions. The day after the demonstration, two well-known social activists, Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov, were arrested. They are now threatened with up to seven years in
prison for disorderly conduct, although there is no evidence of their complicity in illegal activities. Meanwhile, the police continue to hunt down and harass other activists, especially those involved in the antifascist movement.

The campaign to save the Khimki Forest has been going on for the past three years. The authorities had decided to build a segment of a planned MoscowSaint Petersburg toll highway, the first of its kind in Russia, through the forest. This would lead to the deterioration of environmental conditions in the region, and local residents and Muscovites would be deprived of yet another recreation zone. Despite the availability of alternative routes that would not require clear-cutting the forest and
vigorous protests by environmentalists and ordinary citizens against the planned route, the authorities f0r a long time ignored the voice of society and on several occasions took measures to suppress their critics.

Khimki authorities and the highway project contractor have used violence and other tactics against Khimki Forest defenders. They refused to give permission for protest demonstrations, recruited nationalist thugs to break
up a peaceful protest camp organized by environmentalists and local residents, and illegally arrested and beat up journalists covering the story. Nearly two years ago, Mikhail Beketov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda and a critic of the local administration, was severely beaten by persons unknown; the attack left Beketov permanently
disabled. Sergei Protozanov, the layout designer of another local opposition paper, was murdered in similar circumstances six months later.

After the July 28 demonstration, the Russian police and secret services unleashed an unprecedented dragnet against antifascists. People who had even just once come to the attention of the Center for Extremism Prevention and
FSB for their involvement with the antifascist movement have been forcibly taken in for questioning. In several cases they have been subjected to harsh physical coercion in order to compel them to give the testimony required by investigators. In addition, illegal searches have been carried out in their apartments. All these actions on the part of law enforcement
authorities are violations of Russian and international law.

Frightened by the numerous and growing protests against the clear-cutting of the Khimki Forest, the authorities have finally made concessions by agreeing to review the advisability of the planned route for the toll highway. But this does not mean victory. Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov are still in
police custody for no reason at all. They are hostages of the authorities.

In late September, the next hearing in their case will take place. The judge will decide whether to keep them in police custody pending completion of the investigation and trial. Everyone who cares about the fate of these two young men must do everything in their power to see that they are set free.
The Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages calls on people around the world to organize days of action on September 17, 18, 19, and 20 to pressure the Russian authorities to release Alexei and Maxim.

We ask you to hold protests outside of Russian Federation embassies, consulates, trade missions, and cultural centers, as well as at public events and concerts connected to Russia. We also ask you to send faxes,e-mails, and protest letters to the court, the prosecutor¹s office, and the country¹s political leadership. In the very nearfuture we will inform you of
addresses where you can send these protests as well as more details about the ongoing repressions in Russia. Look for this information on our website

http://khimkibattle.org in English, German, Russian, and French.

Join our campaign!

Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages

+7 (915) 053-5912 * info@khimkibattle.org * http://khimkibattle.org

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Back ground information:

Chtodelat news, Khimki Territory of Lawlessness
http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/khimki-territory-of-lawlessness/

Why we need solidarity with Russian environmentalists and antifascists
http://www.aktivism.info/socialforumjourney/?p=1748

Website Revamp

May 2011
We are really very sorry for the extraordinary hiccough with this site – this is the first time we’ve been able to even edit this message – it’s been so frustrating for everyone!

May 2011
We are really very sorry for the extraordinary hiccough with this site – this is the first time we’ve been able to even edit this message – it’s been so frustrating for everyone!

It’s working now (apart from old images not being accessible), and being gradually repopulated with the news we’ve missed. There’s a new Resources section too. Let us know (via submit story) anything that could be better.

We hope by the end of the process you’ll feel welcomed back with open arms, with new bells and whistles on their way. Thank you for bearing with us, and we look forward to your stories again making this a valuable resource for all.

Trashing, dashing, bashing, mashing: the new EF! Action Update

So what have you been up to the last few months? Just hanging around?
Maybe you’ve been part of human wheel-clamping aeroplanes, climbing up scaffolding tripods inconveniently placed in the road, smashing machines at open-cast mines, playing nuked-dead in the street, kayaking against borehole drill rigs in Ireland, burning mobile phone masts, resisting Tesco, camping against trashing of woodland, with some success at Titnore (& other protest camp updates), or getting in on BP’s act, spilling oil in public places.

Or have you been on holiday, taking part in indigenous blockades against logging, dams and mining, spilunking against high speed trains, slashing tuna cages, blockading Monsanto HQ, trashing GM fields, and more?

Maybe you’re in need of a break. But if you’re not, and are just champing at the bit, the return of AUntie MIffy’s problem page might help, addressing what to do if there’s no local group near you. There’s an article about the beginnings of EF! in this country, looking forwards to the next 20 years, to help inspire. If you need support to get things going where you live, do get in touch. And if all that’s not enough, here’s a quotation, from Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd captain:

“Future generations will not have the chance and those that came before us did not have the vision nor the knowledge. It is up to us — you and I.”

Print version
Other issues and extra info

Protesters attack Russian town hall to save forest

2010-07-29
A band of 100 masked people staged a violent environmental protest in a quiet Moscow suburb, hurling Molotov cocktails and fireworks at city hall while objecting to plans for clearing a local forest for highway construction, Russian police said.

The centuries-old oak forest in Khimki has been a focus of controversy for years, as authorities plan to cut down much of the woods to make way for a major highway along the increasingly jammed route from Moscow to Sheremetyevo International Airport. In 2008, a local journalist who reported on the issue was brutally beaten and left crippled and brain-damaged.

Late Wednesday about 90 unidentified people attacked Khimki city hall, Moscow regional police said.

Russian television broadcast amateur video footage showing masked attackers throwing fireworks and bottles at the building, on which they had spray-painted “Save Russian forests” and “No to Khimki forest clearing.” Khimki officials said the attackers also threw Molotov cocktails.

City hall security officers stayed inside the building, and called police after the assailants had left, Khimki police chief Viktor Tanasiychuk said.

“Naturally, police squads did not find anyone at the scene when they arrived,” he said. Police said the attackers then left on a suburban train to Moscow.

No one was arrested at the scene, but police later detained nine environmentalists who have lived in the forest to stop loggers from clearing the trees. The activists denied any involvement in Wednesday’s attack, and a police spokesman confirmed they were not suspected in the attack. The spokesman said the activists instead are suspected of disturbing public order and resisting police, but he did not elaborate.

The head of the country’s Union of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations, Andrey Morgulyov, accused police of detaining the activists to derail their plans to meet Thursday with the Russian deputy natural resources minister and to attend a session Friday of the Public Chamber on the Khimki forest.

Environmental protesters have become increasingly vocal in Russia in the recent years.

Thousands of people took to Moscow’s streets after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed an order this year to reopen a paper mill on Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and deepest lake now believed to be under serious threat from industrial pollution and development. The lake holds an estimated 1,500 unique species of plants and animals.

Bruised over Teghut: Environmental pressure group defiant after protest breakup, Armenia

29.07.10
Police used force on Wednesday to break up a protest in Yerevan near a commercial bank that intends to loan a controversial mining project in northern Armenia. Activists were at VTB bank to protest its financing of Armenian Copper Programme’s (ACP) development of a mine in Teghut.

The activists demanded that VTB should stop the funding of the “anti-ecological and illegal Teghut project”, publicize the Bank’s environmental criteria [for loan programs] and the names of those who have developed these criteria. The protesters further called for an end to what they call a contemptuous attitude towards society, for honoring the principles of transparency and accountability and also demanded that clear answers be given to letters of environmental and human rights organizations.

The Government made the decision on developing the copper and molybdenum mine in Teghut in November 2007, giving ACP a license for 25 years. This is the first case when the government allows mining amid a forest site. The Teghut mine – in the lush province of Lori – is the second largest in Armenia, after the copper and molybdenum mine in Kajaran in southern Armenia. Experts estimate that the mine in Teghut contains more than 1.6 million tons of copper and 100,000 tons of molybdenum.

From the very outset environmentalists in Armenia carefully monitored the government’s decision to develop the mine, constantly voicing concerns about possible irreparable loss to the environment (damage to the eco system, disappearance of some of the rare species of flora and fauna, threats to public health because of tailings, etc.). ACP officials, meanwhile, argue that the mining industry will create new jobs for the local population and will considerably improve the social conditions in the province and generally will contribute to the country’s economic growth. Despite the perceived benefits, however, ACP seemed to be experiencing difficulties in finding a financial partner for the Teghut mine operation.

Russian-owned VTB has decided this year to provide ACP with a promised sum of about $300 million. So far only a small part of the loan has been provided, and the provision of the basic sum has been delayed because of the financial crisis.

At first, the activists demanded to see VTB management, but when nobody approached them, they sat on the bank steps, hindering customers and employees from entering. The demonstrators demanded that the bank customers should not use the services of a bank that promotes “the destruction of Armenia”.

Police arrived to disperse the protesters. In the ensuing scuffle, chairman of the Green Party of Armenia Armen Dovlatyan was among those who suffered minor scrapes.

The activists also turned to the Ombudsman’s office, whose representative heard them and said: “We will decide what to do” – and then left.

Ecologist Karine Danielyan, who in the end also joined the demonstrators, says that the economic profit from the operation of the mine will never be near enough to offset the environmental damages caused by it. According to her, it will take years to compensate for the forests now being destroyed.

“And forests not only in the territory of the mine operation will be destroyed, but also upper forests, because water will descend into that cavity and the upper forests will dry out,” says Danielyan, adding that the local water resources also get contaminated and the biodiversity of the forest is vanishing.

Urban development in Mexico attacked by elves

On the night of July 27 we made a bonfire with property belonging to destroyers of the Earth.

In the Dinamos woods in the Magdalena Contreras section of Mexico City, there is an urban expansion project that is still in the early stages of construction. It involves the creation of deep wells that would take water from the river with the goal of urban expansion and anthropocentric progress.

For that reason vegan elves are responsible for the following sabotages:
-We blocked the wells with stones, bricks, blocks and rubble, preventing the river water from flowing through its pipes.
-We graffitied the machines and the construction material with slogans such as ‘Stop urban expansion’, ‘No more civilization of wild environments’ and ‘Frente de Liberación de la Tierra’
-We burned three machines using incendiary devices, including: two bulldozers and a small machine that removes rubble; the smallest device was placed in the first one at the pedals, in the second one the window was shattered with rocks and the device was put in the cabin and in the third machine the device was placed on the cables.

We fled into the night without a trace. The damage was in the thousands of pesos. We want to make it clear that what we did was in defense of the earth, which is destroyed every day by ego-centrism and authoritarianism, but for every wild or semi-wild environment destroyed, hundreds of their machines and properties will be destroyed and left unusable. Let this serve as a lesson to the exploiters of the earth!

This action dedicated to the animal liberation warrior in the United States, Walter Bond, recently jailed for three fires against animal exploitation companies. Dedicated as well in support of Leo in Italy, and to Adrian and Abraham.

Frente de Liberación de la Tierra /Earth Liberation Front

Last resort?: Gegharkunik residents turn into live shield to protect their river, Armenia

A live shield appeared yesterday, July 19, on the Yerevan-Sevan highway, when the residents of the Gegharkunik province blocked the road to express their protest against the construction of a hydropower plant on the Gayladzor stream of the Argitchi River.

Since the morning about 500 residents from six villages blocked the Yerevan-Martouni section of the Sevan highway for about five hours paralyzing traffic for more than 1,000 cars. Later on, Gegharkunik marzpetaran (local administration body) employees arrived, and asked for ten days to settle the issue.

“Residents turned to all competent government bodies, and they had nothing else left to do in this respect. They are ready to repeat the same step in ten days unless something is changed for the better,” Lianna Asoyan, coordinator of the Aarhus Center in Armenia’s Gegharkunik province, told ArmeniaNow.

The river Argitchi is the biggest among 28 rivers flowing into Lake Sevan. It secures 12 centimeters for the rise of the lake level annually. The river provides irrigation water for more than 30,000 residents of six villages in Gegharkounik province. If the project of changing the course of the Gayladzor stream flowing to the river Argitchi is implemented, about 40 percent of Argirchi water will be directed to Vayots Dzor province, which is in the opposite side of Lake Sevan.

Asoyan says that Zangezour Eximp LLC is illegally conducting the construction of a small hydropower plant on the Argitchi River though the permit issued to this company says it is entitled to carry out construction only on the tributary of the Eghegis River in Kapuyt Berd, while construction works on the river Argitchi are illegal.

Environmentalists are sure that by means of changing the course of the river, the level of Lake Sevan – the largest sweet water basin in Armenia – will be dropped. The rise of Lake Sevan’s level influenced the lucrative businesses founded along the lakeshore during recent years. Besides, the abrupt rise of Lake Sevan’s level is considered to be one of the most important environmental issues for Armenia, where Lake Sevan is the main element of the whole ecosystem.

The RA Law on Lake Sevan, which prohibits the use of the lake’s basin water for other purposes, be it a hydro-power plant, irrigation or some other purpose, is being violated because of the construction of the hydropower plant. Besides, it is also dangerous for fish, especially trout, since they spawn at the source of the river Argitchi.

ELF BATTLE DEFORESTATION

received anonymously:

“On July 17 2010 a tracked tree transporter was torched by a group of elf activists. The action took place at the road construction site near

received anonymously:

“On July 17 2010 a tracked tree transporter was torched by a group of elf activists. The action took place at the road construction site near
Sheremetjevo airport in Himki forest, North of Moscow, Russia. We support local activists in their fight against deforestation campaign of Moscow authorities, although we disapprove of their half-hearted liberal tactics.

ELF-Russia”

Russian Activists set up Barricade, then Camp Out As Battle For Khimki Forest Heats Up

July 17, 2010
Environmentalists opposed to plans to raze a Khimki forest to make way for an $8 billion highway raised a barricade to keep out loggers Monday, Interfax reported.

On the side of the road to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, which runs along a pristine expanse of old-growth trees, a banner urges drivers to help “Stop the felling of the forest.”

Behind the sign, the forest is marred by a gaping hole the size of three football fields.

This is where activists from the Ecodefense environmental group have camped out in a desperate bid to save the Khimki forest from destruction.

Russian authorities want to clear large swathes of forest to make way for an $8 billion highway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg. They say the proposed route through Khimki, a small town on Moscow’s northern outskirts, will help ease traffic congestion by offering an alternative road to the airport.

But environmentalists say building the highway in Khimki would deprive Moscow of yet another chunk of its fast-dwindling green belt, designed in the 1930s to contain pollution and preserve wildlife.

Ecodefense succeeded in halting the first felling works on July 15, because the workers showed up without deforestation permits, according to activist Sergei Ageyev.

“There were about six workers cutting down trees and two security guards. There were more at the other location, which had the bulk of the equipment, including an excavator. We demanded that they stop work,” Ageyev says. “We asked to see documents. They didn’t know anything; there were no documents at the site. It is a blatant violation; there must be documents.”

Ecodefense leader Yevgenya Chirikova says a small fight erupted between activists and security guards of the French company in charge of the felling, Vinci Concessions.

“We won,” she adds with a smile.

The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Shortly after speaking to RFE/RL, Chirikova was attacked by an unidentified man, who struck her before ramming his car into her. She escaped unhurt.

She said the police were slow to respond when she reported the incident. “I don’t understand why it took them so long to find me,” she told RFE/RL’s Russian Service. “The day before a detachment of police was ordered to our camp and they had found us quite easily.”

Chirikova said the the attack was a form of “psychological pressure” and just one in a series of incidents meant to intimidate her.

Pollution And Illness

At the activists’ makeshift camp, freshly cut birch trees are piled up close to an abandoned bulldozer. Other piles of felled trees nearby suggest clearing has been going on for some time.

Despite the sweltering heat, the activists are determined to stay here round-the-clock until all felling equipment has left the forest.

Ecologists and Khimki residents have been fighting plans to build the highway for years, saying it will have a devastating effect on the local environment.

Andrei Margulev, the coordinator of the union of ecological organizations, was the one who raised the alarm about this week’s felling at Khimki forest.

“The ecological situation here in the north of Moscow is very dire due to the huge number of vehicles and enterprises, including garbage incineration plants and a famous garbage dump that constantly sends out smoke on that side of the canal,” Margulev says. “The forest filters the air and the dust that can carry pollution all the way to our lungs. All this dust remains here. If there were no forest, hundreds more people would die of cancerous diseases.”

Chirikova, a businesswoman, moved to Khimki with her family to live closer to the forest. She began campaigning to save the forest after she noticed red paint on trees near her home in Khimki marking the highway’s proposed route.

“The forest is important to us not only as a source of oxygen, but also for its biodiversity, which is unique for the Moscow region,” she says. “There are fewer and fewer such places, and we understand that if we don’t preserve this forest, we won’t survive next summer when temperatures reach 36 degrees Celsius.”

Charges Of Corruption

Critics of the highway accuse the government of ignoring protests, manipulating laws, and modifying the forest’s status to allow its deforestation.

The group filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights after Russia’s Supreme Court rejected its appeal in April.

Ecodefense also accuses authorities of deliberately engineering a recent four-day traffic jam on the road leading to the airport to gain support for the highway.

Activists say the project is mired in corruption, stressing that one of the driving forces behind the proposed route is Transport Minister Igor Levitin, who also sits on the airport’s board of directors.

Transparency International has reported there was a “potential corruption risk” in the project.

Ecodefense activists say they recently met with representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to persuade them not to invest in the road.

Experts say the planned route through the forest will actually slow down a road that is supposed to be about speeding up traffic.

The campaign has become a cause célèbre in Russia, particularly after Mikhail Beketov, the editor of the local newspaper “Khimkinskaya Pravda,” was viciously beaten two years ago in what many see as retaliation for his battle to save the Khimki forest.

One of Beketov’s legs had to be amputated following the attack, and he suffered severe brain damage.

Ecodefense has collected 20,000 signatures against the destruction of the forest. In another sign of the group’s mounting clout, Chirikova won 16 percent of the vote in last year’s election for mayor of Khimki — a high result for a first-time, independent candidate.

Despite the start of tree felling this week, Chirikova is not losing hope. But she says more people need to join the cause.

“We see a real chance to stop the felling,” she says. “The only thing we lack is help from active people who could come here…to bring water, food, and tents to our wonderful camp. That’s the only way we can stop anything.”

“We have no hope in the police, who simply sit in the bushes shrugging their shoulders and saying they don’t know what to do,” she says.

—

Deforestation Starts, and Stops, in Khimki

16.7.10
A French company started clearing a Khimki forest for an $8 billion highway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg, but its work was halted Thursday by environmentalists.

France’s Vinci Concessions cut down trees in an area equal to two football fields near the Novotel Sheremetyevo Moscow hotel on Wednesday before the environmentalists showed up Thursday morning and demanded to see deforestation permits, which the workers were unable to provide, the public group In Defense of the Khimki Forest said.

The activists put up tents near the deforestation site in Khimki, a town on Moscow’s northern outskirts, for 10 people to monitor the area around the clock to make sure work did not resume without the permits.

The workers promised to show the permits Monday, said Yevgenia Chirikova, head of In Defense of the Khimki Forest. “They promised to provide everything, but on Monday at 2 p.m.,” she said, Interfax reported.

Greenpeace Russia asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to check “without delay” whether the workers had permits for the deforestation, the environmental watchdog said in a statement.

Officials with Vinci Concessions, which leads the North-West Concession Company, a consortium building the road, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Ecodefense, an environmental group, linked a four-day traffic jam on Leningradskoye Shosse in late June and early July to the deforestation in Khimki, saying it was “engineered deliberately to get a green light for the construction” of the Khimki road.

In Defense of the Khimki Forest together with the Federation of Car Owners of Russia appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office this week to investigate the reasons for the snarled traffic, which city authorities have blamed on construction work on a small bridge in Khimki.

In late April, the Supreme Court brushed aside environmental concerns over the deforestation of the old oak forest, allowing work on the highway to proceed.

The forest has become a symbol of grassroots activism in Russia over the past two years. In November 2008, Mikhail Beketov, one of the forest’s staunchest defenders and the editor of the local newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda, was badly beaten after he criticized the Khimki administration for supporting the deforestation. The attack, which remains unsolved, left Beketov brain damaged, and one of his legs had to be amputated.
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