On September 16, 2021, journalists Mihai Dragolea and Radu Constantin Mocanu, and environmental activist Tiberiu Bosutar, were beaten by around 20 attackers in Romania’s northeastern Suceava County while filming a documentary about illegal logging and deforestation. Dragolea is a young filmmaker who documents how illegal deforestation in Romania is fueled by corruption, and the alleged links between illegal logging and the public Romanian forestry company Romsilva, and European companies such as Kronospan and HS Timber Group (previously Holzindustrie Schweighofer), a former supplier of Ikea. The incident, which is said to be the latest in a long history of violence in Romanian forests, happened in a private forest managed by the Dealu Negru Forest District. No employees of the mentioned companies were involved in the attack.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited the companies to comments; responses and non-responses are provided below. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre could not reach the Dealu Negru Forest District.