In Congo, a poacher has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. The man killed more than 500 elephants and took part in armed clashes against rangers.
It is a landmark ruling. One of those that can truly make a difference. A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sentenced Mobanza Mobembo Gerard, known as Guyvanho, one of the country's most notorious and wanted poachers, to 30 years in prison for trafficking ivory and attempting to kill several rangers. The man killed more than 500 elephants.
It is an unprecedented sentence that represents an incredible step forward in the protection not only of pachyderms, but of all animal species threatened by despicable practices such as poaching.
In the past, these types of crimes were tried in civil courts, with a maximum sentence of five years. But that was not the case for Guyvanho, who for the first time in the country's history was tried in a criminal court and convicted — among other things — of poaching, illegal trafficking of ivory, illegal possession of firearms and the attempted murder of several rangers. In addition to serving 30 years in prison, he will also have to pay 38 million African francs (approximately 60,000 euros) to the rangers.
"This unprecedented conviction in a criminal court represents a milestone in the protection of wildlife in the Democratic Republic of Congo," said Emma Stokes, regional managing director of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "It sends an extremely strong message that crimes against nature will no longer be tolerated in future and will be prosecuted at the highest levels of justice."
Guyvanho began his bloody trafficking in 2008, when he was barely in his twenties, and since then has led expeditions across central Africa, taking the lives of more than 500 elephants and depriving local communities of an unparalleled natural asset. In the area he is known as "the butcher of Nouabale Ndoki", after the park where he operated, a reserve of more than four thousand square kilometres and the favourite refuge of rare specimens of the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis).
The authorities had been on his trail for three years, but the man had repeatedly managed to evade capture. In 2019, together with the team he operated with, he opened fire on a ranger patrol that was inspecting the park, wounding several of them.
This case has demonstrated once again the danger and the interconnection of nature crimes with other illegal trafficking. According to UN Environment, the United Nations agency for environmental protection, nature crimes are the fourth largest illegal market in the world, with a turnover of 213 billion dollars a year, approximately 190 billion euros. They are preceded by drug trafficking, the counterfeit goods market and human trafficking, and over the years have even overtaken illegal arms trafficking, to which they are nonetheless linked, as evidenced by the fact that Guyvanho was also charged with the illegal possession of firearms.
International organisations such as WWF have repeatedly highlighted the fact that, unlike the other four markets, nature crimes have never received the same level of attention from the authorities, sentences are almost never enforced and there remains a certain international blindness to the indirect humanitarian consequences that environmental crimes bring with them.
This ruling, however, could be a first important step towards reversing this trend. In Congo, the elephants have won, as have all those who dedicate their lives to protecting them. But humanity has won too, because a free elephant in its natural habitat is an immense gift for everyone.