15:05, 30 January 2018

Vremenny villagers complain to Court of officials' inaction

Aftermath of the special operation in the village of Vremenny, Dagestan. Photo: press service of HRC 'Memorial', https://memohrc.org/ru/news/dagestan-itogi-specoperacii-v-poselke-vremennyy-foto

128 residents from the Dagestani village of Vremenny have filed to the Soviet District Court of Makhachkala a complaint of officials' failure to pay compensation for the property damaged during a special operation, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" reports.

On September 18, 2014, residents of Vremenny reported the blocking of their settlement by law enforcers, house-by-house raids, and, later, the shortage of foodstuffs and destruction of their yard structures by law enforcers. On October 8, 2014, almost all the residents left the blocked settlement. In December 2014, a special commission found 52 houses unfit for residence.

The lawsuit involves as defendants the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Dagestan, the Chief Department of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) for Dagestan, the administration for the Untsukul District, the North-Caucasian Regional Centre of the Russian MfE and the government of Dagestan.

The plaintiffs request the Court to recognize as illegal the inaction of the state bodies that, according to the complainants, create obstacles to the payment of compensation for the damage inflicted to the movable property in the course of the special operation conducted in 2014.

"More than three years have passed since the people returned to their village after the special operation. However, the state bodies have not yet paid the compensation provided for by the Russian laws," the HRC "Memorial" states in its release received today by the "Caucasian Knot".

The plaintiffs filed complaints to various institutions, including the Tver Court of Moscow, but no results followed, the HRC "Memorial" notes.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.