Ombudsman wants to help woman from Grozny to preserve her housing

Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin has drawn attention to the problem of Alexandra Tanina from Grozny, now residing in a refugee camp in Nazran, who is afraid of losing her housing in the capital of Chechnya. According to Timur Akiev, head of the Ingush branch of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial", the problem of losing apartments in Chechnya is a systemic one.

Let us remind you that earlier Alexander Tanina had said that she was afraid to lose her flat in Grozny. Her flat is in a repaired house; and the woman said that she was not let inside; workers changed the lock in the door, but refused to give her the new key.

"We've addressed the head of the Ingush branch of the 'Memorial' with a request to find this woman and help her to file a complaint to our office. Mr Lukin was personally looking through media statements and got interested in this story," Alexander Bombizov, an employee of the division for operative information of the Ombudsman's office, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Timur Akiev, head of the Ingush branch of the HRC "Memorial", believes that Ms Tanina has every chance of favourable resolution.

He has noted that such a reaction from the Russian Ombudsman's office to human rights violations described by media came to his branch for the first time.

In his view, the problem of loss of apartments in Chechnya is a systemic one. "Many of those who agreed after the war to receive compensations instead of their former housing signed their waivers, and their apartments passed over into municipal ownership. However, the apartments, from which nobody refused, also got into those lists; then, the city administration disposed of them to their own discretion," said Timur Akiev.