Members of the Sochi Society of the Blind state a threat of eviction

On November 16 in Sochi, about a hundred members of the Society of the Blind held a rally to mark the International Day of the "White Stick". Among other things, they discussed the threat of eviction of their Society from the premises occupied for more than 60 years.

"In October, the Society received a prescription from V. Shingiriya, a deputy director of the Department of Property Relations of the Sochi City Administration, 'On abandoning the non-residential premises of municipal ownership located at No. 22 Krasnoarmeiskaya Street' and delivering the keys to the above Department. Otherwise, according to the prescription, the Department will send documents to the administration of the city with the aim to vacate the premises in the judicial order," said the chair of the Society Gayane Tavakalyan.

Anatoly Gavrilenko, a visually impaired person and a member of the Society of the Blind since 1950, believes that the pretext to close the Society is a far-fetched and aimed "to use the premises for commercial needs."

Ms Tavakalyan believes that public utilities had sent the bills to the Society, which it cannot pay. She has noted that now they have to look for sponsors, who could pay the bills and conclude contracts with the municipal utilities.

Konstantin Nechaev, the employee of the above Department, who had drafted the above prescription for the Society of the Blind, has confessed to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he did not know "how much legal the eviction due to non-payment of public utilities was."