Romanian authorities have censored parts of a report that is said to show the true dimension of illegal logging in Romania, writes Romania Insider. It is about the National Forestry Inventory (IFN) survey, National Forest Inventories, which, among other things, the EU has participated in and financed.

The report shows that 38 million cubic meters of forest were cut down annually in the period 2008 - 2012 in Romania. It is 20 million more cubic meters than what is legally exploited and what is shown in the official statistics from the National Statistics Institute.

The forests that are affected are the over 450-year-old big beech forests, which are the last of this type in Europe, according to Sweden's Radio Ekot.

Forest guards were killed

An anonymous timber thief says they are being forced to steal forests in order to pay bribes to various authorities, a Romanian investigative documentary shows. Some of those who have tried to stop the timber thieves have turned out badly.

In the past month, two forest guards have been found dead in the forest, writes Romania Insider and BBC. On Wednesday evening, October 16, a 30-year-old forest officer was shot with a hunting rifle in Strambu Baiut's forest district in northern Romania, as confirmed by both Romanian police and state forest company Romsilva's manager George Mihailescu.

The man should have looked to the forest for tips on wood thieves there. Local media has reported that one of the suspects should be the nephew of the city's main prosecutor, writes Romania Insider.

Earlier in October another forester was found dead in a car in the forest.

Also, journalists from Romania Insider must have been threatened and lauded by the way when they mapped out how trees were cut down by false reporting. According to them, healthy trees are labeled as sick or dead so that they can be cut down legally.