German firm convicted for breaking sanctions

A German company investigated by EIA has been convicted for evading sanctions on timber from Myanmar. The Regional Court in Hamburg found WOB Timber had evaded the EU sanctions on 31 separate shipments of wood worth millions of euros from 2008-11, when the previous military junta was sanctioned by the EU. The Judge fined it €3.3 million and sentenced director Stephan Bührich to a 21-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €200,000 – and warned further cases would result in harsher penalties.

Sanction Mexico to save the vaquita porpoise

EIA and three partners have urged the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to use sanctions to put pressure on Mexico to save the vaquita porpoise, whose population is estimated to have dwindled to just 10 remaining animals.