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French billionaire Olivier Bouygues arrived at court in the French city of Orléans on Monday where he is on trial, along with five others, for illegal hunting, including of protected bird species on his private hunting ground near the Sologne Forest, roughly 150 kilometres south of Paris.
The trial, expected to last two days, is largely symbolic, as it is completely unprecedented in French justice.
Bouygues, brother to Martin Bouygues who was formerly the chief executive of the Bouygues group, is accused of being among of a class of “people who are rolling in money who exempt themselves from respecting biodiversity,” according to the President of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO), Allain Bougrain-Dubourg.
Bougrain-Dubourg said the case should “serve as warning” to France’s wealthy and elites, who think they’re above respecting the law and deter them from similar activities that negatively impact the environment.
“Biodiversity is capable of suffering and the regulations are made for everyone, even those with great resources,” he added.
The investigation alleges that Bouygues’ hunting ground has facilitated these illegal practices for many years, according to the regional public prosecutor.
Five of the six defendants showed up to court on Monday to face charges which include up to seven years in prison and a fine of €750,000 if convicted.
Police last year, following an anonymous tip, uncovered a mass grave on the billionaire’s property of protected birds, including great egrets, harriers and kestrels, great cormorants and common buzzards.
Police also found prohibited items on-site, like weapons and jaw traps which have been outlawed since 1995.
Also recovered from the property was a list of species of animals, some of them protected, to be eliminated, and traces of the destructions already done to the species.
An excavator used to dig up graves for the hunted animals was also seized from Bouygues’ Fontenaille estate.
Olivier, 75, was taken into custody after police executed a search warrant in June last year, following tips of illegal activity taking place on his 600 hectare property in Sologne, France’s second largest forest area, popular among the country’s wealthy.
Along with the LPO, some 15 other environmental and animal protection associations have joined the case as civil parties against Olivier, one of the sons to Francis Bouygues, who founded the construction, media and telecoms giant.