Court decides to evict tenants of barracks in Nazran

In Magas, a court granted a lawsuit of the Nazran administration for the eviction of 16 families of migrants from barracks. Only the family of Ruslan Akhilgov, who has the status of a forced migrant, is allowed to stay, the Human Rights Protection Centre “Memorial” reports.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on April 13, 2019, forced migrants from the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia, living in three barracks in Nazran, received notifications from the Mayoralty with the demand to move out. The tenants of the barracks have nowhere to go, since they have not been provided with alternative housing, and the money allocated to refugees is not enough to purchase housing. The authorities want to build a multi-storey building on the site of the barracks, the forced migrants complain.

Lawyer Khadidja Godoborscheva (who worked at the Human Rights Centre “Memorial”*, liquidated by a court’s decision) has pointed out that the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees country’s citizens the right to housing. The lawyer has also referred to similar norms of international law and the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which recognized the eviction from housing of forced migrants (even if they have lost that status) a violation of Article 8 (the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

*The organization was included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of NCOs performing the functions of a foreign agent and was liquidated by a court’s decision.