Tuapse investigators closed a criminal case on the violation of a large family's rights to housing

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A criminal case of negligence, initiated against unidentified officials in Tuapse, who failed to comply with a court decision and did not provide housing to the large family of Sergei Kartashov and Tatyana Pimenova, has been terminated due to the absence of a criminal event.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, spouses from Tuapse Sergei Kartashov and Tatyana Pimenova appealed in court the authorities' decision to force their low-income and large family to move to an apartment that does not meet social norms. Earlier, in 2023, a court in Tuapse ordered the authorities to provide the family with housing equal in area to the area they occupy. However, in early March, a court in Krasnodar upheld the decision to resettle.

The large family of Sergei Kartashov and Tatyana Pimenova from the Tuapse District, which lives in conditions of an acute housing crisis, only learned at the end of June that Tuapse investigators had closed a criminal case on negligence on the part of local officials back in March. After lengthy visits to offices and requests to issue documents, they received two orders by mail on June 29. One is dated December 7, 2023, "on the initiation of a criminal case," and the second "on the termination of this case" - March 16, 2025.

The criminal case was initiated by an investigator of the Tuapse Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia under Part 1 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (negligence) against unidentified persons. The reason was the failure of the Tuapse District administration to comply with a court decision to provide a large family with housing in exchange for the previously confiscated housing.

We came for questioning, gave all the explanations, presented the documents - and silence

The resolution, a copy of which is at the disposal of the "Caucasian Knot", notes that officials violated the law by offering the Pimenovs apartments of a smaller area than required by law, or by postponing the issue altogether. As a result, the damage was recognized as "significant" - all family members, including four children, were officially recognized as victims. "We came for questioning, gave all the explanations, presented the documents - and silence. Almost three years of silence. And then - a surprise in the mail: it turns out that everything was closed back in March. Without a call, without notice. "We didn't even know that the case had been closed," the father of the family Sergey Kartashov told the "Caucasian Knot."

The "absence of a criminal event" was stated as the basis for closing the criminal case - the investigation considered that the apartments offered by Pimenov were "offered" and that there were no "socially dangerous consequences" for the large Pimenov family. "This is a mockery, not an investigation. While we were huddled with children in cramped conditions, the officials did not twitch a single nerve. We were simply thrown out of the system. No sympathy, no responsibility. Only bureaucracy and formal replies," Kartashov is indignant.

At the time the case was opened, the family consisted of six people. During the protracted investigation, on December 15 last year, they had another child - their fifth. However, neither when determining the status of the victims, nor in the materials of the terminated case, were his interests taken into account.

In this case, the child who appeared during the investigation was not included in the circle of victims at all

According to lawyer Elena Pavlova, who is not connected with this story, "ignoring the rights of children violates the norms of federal legislation." "Federal Law No. 124-FZ "On the Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation" requires the state to prioritize the interests of minors. However, in this case, the child who appeared during the investigation was not included in the circle of victims at all. "This is a gross violation of the law," she told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

As the lawyer explained, from the moment the case is closed due to the absence of a crime (clause 1, part 1, article 24 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation), all procedural statuses are automatically lost. This means that the family is deprived not only of the status of victims, but also of the opportunity to seek compensation, demand new investigative actions and protect their interests in criminal and civil cases. "In fact, the state says: "Your suffering did not occur." But the investigation itself had previously recognized the damage as significant and recognized six family members as victims. This legal manipulation is nothing more than a way to avoid responsibility," the lawyer added.

Officials do not think about how to help large families

Neither the administration, nor the prosecutor's office, nor the investigation have offered a real solution to the housing problem over all these years, Tatiana Pimenova told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Officials do not think about how to help large families. They think about how to deprive us of these conditions. We are on the brink of survival, we have five children, and no prospects. And now they've closed the case as if nothing had happened," she complained.

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