Businessmen are ordered to pay R$6 million for deforesting indigenous land Businessmen Leo Luiz Ceccon, aged 53, and Zairo Ceccon, aged 55, were ordered to pay R$6 million in reparation for environmental damage due to the deforestation of 551.1 hectares in the Rio das Cobras Indigenous Land, in Nova Laranjeiras, in the central region of Paraná. The area, which totals more than 5.51 million m², is equivalent to 771 football fields. The two are brothers and partners at Cerealista Ceccon Verê. They were also condemned for planting transgenic (genetically modified) corn and soybeans in the devastated area, as the cultivation of transgenics is prohibited by law on indigenous lands and conservation units. To g1, lawyer Ismar Antônio Pawelak, who works in the defense of businesspeople, said that he does not comment on client cases. ? Follow the g1 PR channel on WhatsApp According to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), inspections by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai) and the Federal Police (PF) indicate that the crimes took place between May 2018 and October 2021. The sentence was handed down at the end of June 2026, and released this Monday (13) by MPF. g1 had access to the document. In it, the Federal Court also sentenced the businessmen to more than 3 years and 10 months in semi-open prison, but the custodial sentence was replaced by provision of services to the community and payment of 30 minimum wages (around R$48,600). The brothers' company was prohibited from being hired by the public authorities for the same period, and will still have to pay a fine of 150 minimum wages, that is, R$81,000. The sentence also provides for the defendants to replant native species in the affected areas, in accordance with the Degraded Areas Recovery Plan (PRAD), which must be carried out by them and approved and inspected by Ibama. Read also: R$540,000 in fines: Farmer deforested an area of 50 football fields to make room for plantations in Paraná, says police Watch video: health professionals take 'July party' to the home of cancer patient in palliative care Understand: Woman receives threats against her family, pays R$10,000 to criminals and discovers that she was extorted by her own brother Complaint says that businessmen deforested forests to plant soybeans and corn Reproduction/Sentence ??Conviction In the first instance, the Federal Court had acquitted the defendants of the charge of deforestation, condemning only one of the partners and the company for the use of a substance harmful to the environment. The MPF appealed and the 7th Panel of the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region, a second instance body of the Federal Court of the South of the country, recognized that "the materiality and authorship of the crimes were fully proven by infraction notices, expert reports and testimonies from environmental analysts from Ibama; therefore, it condemned the two partners and the company also for the crime of deforestation", explains the Ministry. "Finally, the Court established the following judgment thesis: 'The economic exploitation of indigenous land, through deforestation and cultivation of genetically modified organisms, constitutes the crimes of articles 50-A and 56 of Law No. 9,605/1998, with the authorship and intent proven by the joint action of individuals and legal entities, the use of machinery and knowledge of illicitness, requiring full reparation for the environmental damage'”. ?What the law says Law No. 9,605/1998, known as the Environmental Crimes Law, typifies as a crime "deforesting, economically exploiting or degrading forest, whether planted or native, on public domain or vacant land, without authorization from the competent body". Provided for in article 50-A, it is punishable by a fine and up to 4 years in prison. When the area exceeds one thousand hectares, the penalty is increased by 1 year per thousand hectare. The same legislation determines, in article 56, a fine and up to four years' imprisonment for anyone who "produces, processes, packs, imports, exports, markets, supplies, transports, stores, keeps, keeps in storage or uses a product or substance that is toxic, dangerous or harmful to human health or the environment, in violation of the requirements established by law or its regulations". Law 11,460/2007 prohibits in its article 1 "the research and cultivation of genetically modified organisms in indigenous lands and areas of conservation units, except in Environmental Protection Areas". Most watched videos on g1 Paraná: Read more news on g1 Paraná