In Sochi, nature defender asserts that she suffered in fight for trees on Cape Vidnoe

Gayane Antonova, a nature defender, states that she was hurt as a result of another attempt to protect the red-book trees from felling on Cape Vidnoe, Khosta District of Sochi. Builders argue that Antonova intentionally stood under an already undercut tree and failed to react to requests to leave the construction site; no violent actions were taken against her.

On December 8, in the middle of the day, Gayane says, she arrived at the place of works related to strengthening the infrastructure of the railway line Tuapse-Adler, where the customer is the OJSC "Russian Railways". She saw two trees had been already felled and learnt that the workers were going to cut down twenty-five Pitsunda pine trees more. When a worker with a chainsaw came up to the next tree, Gayane stood before him. At this moment she was grabbed by two nearby workers, who dragged her away on the ground. As a result, Gayane received abrasions of arms and legs and tore her clothes.

After the incident the activist addressed the militia station "Khosta", Khosta ROVD (District Interior Division) of Sochi, where she was received by a district militia inspector. The officer on duty registered her application "about her beating by an unidentified person in the vicinity of the 'Pobeda' Sanatorium".

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the Khosta militia station "On Matsesta" that a decision on the application will be made within three or ten days.

Gayane told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Maxim Denisov, an inspector of the local "Rosprirodnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Nature Supervision), who had arrived to the site before the incident, showed her a permit to fell 27 red Pitsunda pines issued by the "Rosprirodnadzor" on November 18, 2010. However, ecologists doubt the legality of the permit. In particular, the workers engaged in felling had no required permits: they had no forest development plan, indicating specific trees to be felled. At Gayane's request of stop cutting, the inspector of "Rosprirodnadzor" said that he had no authorities.

"We have all the data; and if you wish to receive information, write a formal request in accordance with the regulations that we have," Alexander Krokhmal, deputy head of the territorial "Rosprirodnadzor", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "But I can say in fact that there was no incident."

In March this year, the "Caucasian Knot" wrote about the attack on Gayane Antonova committed by workers on Cape Vidnoe. Apart from the last incident, according to her story, there were three more attacks. Her applications about each of them were registered at the militia. But at the moment Gayane is not aware about the investigation; she does not know whether the attackers were identified.

As reported by Anastasia Chernova, press secretary of the Directorate on Complex Reconstruction of Railways and Construction of Railway Objects in the City of Sochi (DKRS-Sochi) of the OJSC "Russian Railways": "According to eyewitnesses, Antonova intentionally got into the falling zone of already undercut tree and put her life in danger." Ms Chernova has also stressed that the Railways "are implementing many environmental activities to compensate the environmental impacts."