23:00, 18 January 2011

Eviction of hostel residents suspended in Grozny

After human rights activists have spread information about forced eviction by power agents of residents from the hostel in Mayakovsky Street in Grozny, the process was suspended; however, several residents have not got their keys back.

The "Caucasian Knot" was informed by Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the Committee "Civil Assistance", today the residents of the hostel, located in Grozny at 119 Mayakovsky Street, were to leave the premises; otherwise law enforcers threatened to use force. The victims are 96 families, who live in the hostel without registration.

Although the eviction was suspended, members of two families have not got their keys back; they are Malika Umarova and Magomed Saidaliev with four children (the eldest is 10) and a single mother Makka Alieva with a sick child of five, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" reports.

On January 14 at 7:00 p.m. the hostel was visited by armed men in camouflage and ordered the tenants to abandon their rooms. Tenants' protests were responded by officials and power agents: "We have a President's order."