STOCKHOLM (From news reports) -- A Swedish district court on Monday acquitted Finnish paper firm Stora Enso of responsibility for causing Sweden's largest wildfire in 40 years, instead fining a subcontractor.
The district court of the Vastmanland region, where the wildfire occurred, said no criminal liability could be placed on Stora Enso, only on the subcontractor, a small forestry company.
The wildfire, which was declared a national emergency and forced over 1,000 people to evacuate their homes, had begun during ground works carried out by the contractor, the court said in a statement.
The subcontractor was fined 2.5 million Swedish crowns ($260,000).
One person was killed when the wildfire ravaged an area totalling 14,000 hectares in the central Vastmanland region in 2014.
The district court of the Vastmanland region, where the wildfire occurred, said no criminal liability could be placed on Stora Enso, only on the subcontractor, a small forestry company.
The wildfire, which was declared a national emergency and forced over 1,000 people to evacuate their homes, had begun during ground works carried out by the contractor, the court said in a statement.
The subcontractor was fined 2.5 million Swedish crowns ($260,000).
One person was killed when the wildfire ravaged an area totalling 14,000 hectares in the central Vastmanland region in 2014.
