Conservationist and anti-elephant poaching activist Wayne Lotter was murdered in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in August 2017. This Friday, 11 people were found guilty of these facts by the Tanzanian judiciary and sentenced to death.
Eleven people were sentenced to death by a Tanzanian court on Friday for the August 2017 murder of Wayne Lotter, a famous environmentalist, in that east African country. Wayne Lotter, a 51-year-old South African who lived and worked in Tanzania where he worked to fight elephant poaching, was shot dead in the economic capital Dar es Salaam. The authors’ exact motives are not clear, but colleagues believe Wayne Lotter paid the price for his fight to protect elephants with his life.
During her reading of the verdict, Judge Laila Mgonya said the trial had “proved beyond a reasonable doubt” the charges against the 11 defendants, including two Burundian nationals. “Some of the suspects admitted in their statements taken by the police that they took part in the preparatory meetings and the murder,” she emphasized, adding that 32 witnesses also supported the allegations. “The evidence presented was strong enough to convict her,” she said.
Specialized anti-poaching units
Death sentences are not uncommon in Tanzania, but are usually commuted to life imprisonment. The last execution was in 1994. Up to 22 people are accused of organizing or carrying out the killing of Lotter, co-founder of the Tanzanian branch of the Pams (Protected Area Management Solutions) conservation foundation. Prosecutors had dropped the charges against four people and seven others had been released by the court in previous sessions.
Continue reading
Tanzania is one of the countries with the largest elephant population on the African continent. It is also one of the areas most affected by poaching. According to official figures, the pachyderm population there declined by 60% between 2009 and 2014. After that, it rose again, from 43,000 in 2014 to 60,000 in 2018, largely due to the efforts of the authorities, who have created specialized units to combat poaching.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
VIDEO – “Don’t Lose It Forever”: The fight to save the Balkan lynx