Kudepsta resident hospitalized after attempting to block machines to TPP

Natalia Karipidi, a resident of Kudepsta, who was hospitalized with a hypertensive crisis, claims that she was attacked by employees of the Private Security Enterprise (known as "Chop") named "S-T-B", who used physical force to drag the defender of the resort zone away from the road to give passage of large equipment of the builders of the thermal power plant (TPP).

The incident, according to eyewitnesses, occurred at 11:00 a.m., when the large-sized machinery of TPP builders tried to pass to the left bank of the resort across the river.

"Seeing the builders, along with other activists on duty, who came to hold their watch from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., I rushed to block the way of machines with my body. We stood as a solid wall and called the police. Icons of saints were placed on the bridge behind us. The machines stopped. However, the workers and employees of the Chop 'S-T-B', hired to guard the territory of the planned TPP, began applying force to me and pulling off the bridge. And they threw away our icons," Natalia Karipidi told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to Igor Vasiliev, an assistant of the State Duma Deputy, who came to the place, an ambulance was called to Karipidi, and "doctors found her condition as critical, diagnosed a hypertensive crisis and took her to the hospital of Kudepsta." According to Mr Vasiliev, the victim wrote a statement to the police against the Chop employees.

However, Artyom Papakhtisyan, the head of the Chop subdivision "S-T-B", which was contracted by TPP developers to guard the territory of the site, denied the information that someone of his people had used force. He noted that his team only "tried to secure the passage of construction equipment across the road, which was blocked by people."