Prosecutor's Office: information about enslaved Tajiks not confirmed

Information about 150 citizens of Tajikistan exploited as slaves in the Semikarakorsk District of the Rostov Region has failed to find its confirmation. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it at the regional prosecutor's Office; however, no procedural decision on the complaint had been made yet.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the information that one of the farms of the Semikarakorsk District of the Rostov Region may exploit slaves arrived from a certain Mukhamadjon. Rights defenders from the Anti-Discrimination Centre (ADC) "Memorial" requested the Prosecutor's Office of the Rostov Region, where they were promised to get a report on the check of the information on September 19.

"The information that in the Semikarakorsk District of the Rostov Region one of enterprises exploits slaves was not confirmed. However, so far, no procedural decision on the case has been made," Prosecutor Roman Agapov, who is supervising the above check, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He added that people had been interrogated. "None of them complained," Mr Agapov has concluded and advised to learn all the details of the case at the Prosecutor's Office of the Semikarakorsk District, which is directly responsible for investigating this case.

However, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the above Prosecutor's Office of the Semikarakorsk District that they made no check of the case. "There's nothing I can help you with; no information about this case has arrived to us," said a source from the Office.

Anna Udyarova, the lawyer of the ADC "Memorial", told about the check of the information on slavery, conducted by the Prosecutor's Office.

"As we managed to find out, prosecutors really found 150 foreign workers there; however, as they reported, the workers had their passports on them; they did not complain on working conditions; and they had their work permits. We assume that either these people were intimidated, or their employers had somehow learnt about the threat of check and issued them their documents and salary," Anna Udyarova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

She explained that the information about possible slavery at the enterprise in the Rostov Region had arrived into the ADC "Memorial" from the Information Centre of the International Organization for Migration in Moscow. "They were addressed by human rights activists from Tajikistan, to whom the above Mukhamadjon had turned," said Anna Udyarova.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent could not contact Mukhamadjon: his telephone did not answer.

According to Anna Udyarova, she managed to contact Mukhamadjon and found out that he received his passport. However, this happened only after the check carried out jointly by the Prosecutor's Office of the Rostov Region and the Department of the Federal Migration Service (DFMS); his passport was confiscated from the employer by the DFMS and only then returned to the applicant.

Now Mukhamadjon, according to Udyarova, tries to raise money to return home. He was not paid for his worked time under the pretext that his ticket from Tajikistan was compensated.

"Recently, a member of the human rights organization from Tajikistan reported that Mukhamadjon got back not only his passport, but also the salary. However, we can't confirm this information, because his telephone did not answer," said Anna Udyarova.