EUROPEAN UNION advocate-general Yves Bot said yesterday that Poland has broken environmental laws by logging in the ancient Bialowieza forest.

The forest, the largest remnant of Europe’s primeval woodland outside Russia, is a World Heritage Site and the last stronghold of a number of rare animals, including the European bison.

Poland has been at loggerheads with the EU since the Court of Justice told it to stop felling trees last summer. Greenpeace and other environmental campaigners have staged protests, including chaining themselves to trees. Polish authorities arrested 22 people in November for protesting outside Poland’s forest management agency.