04 February 2009, 19:00
Residents of Sochi plan to address European Court on mass violations of their rights committed under Olympic aegis
Residents of Sochi are going to file a complaint against Russian government to the European Court on Human Rights about mass violations of the European Convention on Human Rights under the aegis of the forthcoming Olympic Games.
Alik Le, leader of the Union of Imereti Residents, believes that the main problem and contradiction between the people inhabiting the Imereti Lowland and high-ranked bureaucrats lie in the fact that "bureaucrats are not used to reckon with other citizens."
In the opinion of Mr Le, the adopted law on the Olympiad "does not assume any civilized and globally acknowledged procedure of searching balance of interests - of the society, state, private investors and real estate owners."
The leader of the Union of Imereti Residents marks that earlier there were no precedents of resettling residents by court or on voluntary basis because of construction of Olympic sites. "We hear only threats of resettlement and demolition. And claims on eviction are lodged by heads of collapsed state farms under various far-fetched pretexts together with the so-called 'investors'. Judges from Adler (Sochi District) confiscate people's property. We know several cases of this sort. However, during the trials there was no mentioning about the Olympiad and construction of Olympic sites," said Alik Le.
Imereti residents worry not about themselves only. According to Mr Le all the rare and Red Book species of animals and birds, inhabiting the reserve zone of the Imereti Bay, where Olympic construction is underway, "will just die out and disappear forever from our land."
Author: Svetlana Kravchenko Source: CK correspondent
