A court in Indonesia has sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for poaching six critically endangered Javan rhinos, in what’s been hailed as the harshest punishment handed down for wildlife crime to date. Poaching carries a maximum sentence of five years under Indonesian law, and prosecutors had sought this figure in the case against Sunendi, 32, along with a 10 million rupiah ($616) fine. However, the defendant also faced additional charges of theft and of illegal firearm possession, the latter of which carries a maximum penalty of death. The presiding judge in the case, Joni Mauludin Saputra, said it was the gun possession charge that “carried the most weight” in the court’s decision to hand down the 12-year sentence and 100 million rupiah ($6,160). “This case [is] clearly the biggest jail-time punishment for wildlife crime in Indonesia,” said Timer Manurung, the founder and director of the local NGO Auriga Nusantara, which last year published a report warning that poachers were operating with impunity in the park. The Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is one of the most endangered mammals on the planet and is found only in Ujung Kulon National Park, at the western tip of the island of Java. The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) praised the sentencing, noting that it was “particularly surprising considering most Indonesian court sentences are less than what the prosecutors recommend.” Sunendi was found to have killed six rhinos as the leader of a poaching gang from 2019-2023, slaughtering five male rhinos and one…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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