Chechen builders wage protest in Grozny

In the afternoon on January 13, nearly a hundred construction workers went out for a rally in central Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, demanding payment of their wages. All the protesters are employees of the Turkish construction company "Penta".

The action was held in Akhmad Kadyrov Avenue, next to the complex of high-rise buildings "Grozny-City", in construction of which "Penta" workers also took part. The protesters demanded from the authorities to address the issue of their wage debts – they fail to receive their wages for five months already.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by a former "Penta" worker, who preferred to remain anonymous that all the workers' demands to pay the wage debts are responded with mere excuses, and often even with open threats.

According to the source, the "Penta" has failed to pay 5-month wage debts to about 2500 builders.

In early December last year, the Chechen authorities announced that Siyavush Mamedzade, the boss of the "Penta" Company, had fled to Azerbaijan without paying 13 million US dollars to his workers.

"The Director of the Company Siyavush Mamedzade used to say last summer and autumn that local authorities owed him a huge amount of money; therefore he was unable to pay our wages. He said that after commissioning the 'Grozny-City' they promised to pay the debts to him, but this did not happen. What really had happened, we can only guess. Now, benefiting from the fact that Mamedzade had allegedly escaped from the republic, the authorities are putting all the blame on him," said the source. "We have absolutely no interest to know that the 'Penta' Director has escaped, that he is searched and so on. We need our honestly earned money, because we, like our bosses, have families that we need to maintain."