This appeal is a result of a critical situation of refugees in Troitsk (town of Moscow region). In 1988, as a result of pogroms in Baku and Sumgait, Azerbaijan a significant number of people was displaced. The refugees, many of them evacuated by the Soviet Army, were transported to different locations in the still existing Soviet Union and housed in different hotels, camps or hospitals by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. A large group was placed in Troitsk, in a resort hotel which belonged to the Council. All families housed there were registered as refugees and were supposed to receive assistance in finding permanent accommodations, employment, social services, etc. However, partially as a result of administrative changes at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and partially because of indifference of officials and organizations responsible for refugees, no practical assistance was given. Several public organizations assumed responsibility of helping the refugees in Troitsk, notably the Coordination Council for help to Refugees and Displaced Persons-Committee for Civic Action ("Grafova and Ganushkina group" - referred to hereafter as Coordination Council) and The Andrei Sakharov Foundation. The immediate work (distributing monetary assistance, finding medical, psychological and employment counseling, dealing with hardship cases, getting the town Soviet to provide temporary work permits, etc.) was carried out on a voluntary basis by Inna Kaganova and Leonid Litinsky, both of Troitsk.
Maximum number of refugees housed in the Troitsk hotel at one time was 130; altogether more than 200 persons passed through it over the last 6 years. Most were eventually able to find work and move out to normal housing. However, a core number of particularly hard cases could never be resolved without significant state assistance: these are families with no wage earning potential such as families of senior citizens with no relatives, disabled persons, single mothers with small children. These are the families that could find no place to live or means of support other than the hotel where they were placed originally. There are now 46 persons (20 families) remaining in the hotel, all of which fall into the category described above. Apart from other disadvantages, all of them were found to suffer from severe post-traumatic syndrome (evaluation was conducted by Dr. E.L.Gushansky at the request of the Coordination Council).
Meanwhile, in 1993 the ownership of the hotel where the refugees were housed was transferred toFederal Migration Service of Russia (FMS), a "Center for Medico-Psychological rehabilitation of Displaced Persons" (the Center). According to its statute, the Center's purpose was to provide temporary medical care (up to 18 days) to the refugees upon their registration as refugees. However, no provisions were made for one hundred refugees that were already living there for almost three years. Moreover, there are reasons to believe that from the moment of its inception the Center was used to privately generate illegal income for the administration of the Center in collusion with FMS. In 1995 the Center's director was under investigation on charges of embezzlement, but the case was closed under dubious circumstances. Beginning in 1995 the Center, with help from FMS ("third party on the side of plaintiff") started efforts to evict refugees. Since law requires that refugeesare offered accommodations, the Center started by summoning the refugees to a hearing purported to resolve the question of permanent accommodations. At the hearings many refugees were pressed to accept papers with assignment to remote locations in other regions. Contrary to the law, no prior information about these proposed relocations was given, and many later turned out to provide non-existing addresses. The hearings were conducted in an openly hostile atmosphere. The refugees were pressured to accept offers immediately with threats, such as "if you do not sign the papers now, you will not get anything at all". Many refugees stopped accepting the summons or did not attend hearings.
At that time the Tritsk Town Council made a suggestion to FMS to house refugees permanently in Troitsk provided FMS shares expense of building the houses. The suggested project involved expenditure of 2,000,000,000 rubles (about $400,000) by FMS to permanently house the refugees staying at the Center (the complete proposal also involved another, roughly the same size, group of refugees, located elsewhere in Troitsk and would have required about $700,000 contribution by FMS). FMS declined the town proposal and decided to seek evictions through the courts.
In 1995, the Center started several eviction cases. The papers presented to the courts were often severely falsified. The most striking examples are the cases of two elderly women, Lilia Sergeevna Sarkisova (64 years old) and Elena Stepanovna Fedotova (65 years old). The decision on their eviction was pronounced by Podolsk court respectively January 3, 1996 and February 7, 1996. On July 18, 1996 both women were forcibly removed from the hotel by police and taken to the Troitsk hospital. They were released two weeks later and essentially left to themselves. Sarkisova is currently staying with the widow of her son, who died 2 years ago. This is a great burden on her daughter-in-law who was already struggling having to care for small child after the death of her husband. Fedotova does not have any permanent place to stay at all and is moving from friend to friend. Not only both women were denied their right to housing, they are also unable to receive their pensions because of absence of "propiska" (although no longer legally required, in practice social service agencies refuse to deal with people without a proof of residence). Fedotova is also suffering from cancer. At the court, FMS presented falsified documents. When discussing this case unofficially with some of the court staff, Inna Kaganova was given to understand that a special instruction ("ukazanie") came from Moscow Region Court to find in favor of the Center and FMS.
Even though there is reason to believe that extra-judicial pressure was put on Podolsk court, in another three cases on May 20, 1996, after a convincing presentation of facts by Inna Kaganova (as representative of community) Judge Kydashev turned FMS demands down. He also pronounced a private finding on methods used by FMS which violate civil, constitutional and housing rights of refugees. Possibly in retaliation for this finding, Judge Kydashev was demoted later in the summer and is no longer sitting on civil litigations.
Presently 2 more cases are proceeding and seven more have just been started. FMS has taken a very hard position and is refusing any offers of negotiations. I.Kaganova and L.Litinsky met with Chief of FMS, Tatiana Regent after an article by Litinsky in which he investigated reasons for inflexibility of the Center and found some facts supporting allegations of corruption and personal interest of the Center's director in the outcome of the refugee cases. Regent stated explicitly that FMS will not enter into any negotiations - "We will negotiate through courts".
The burden of helping refugees to prepare their legal defense was assumed so far by the same organizations and people who helped them in the past. In particular, legal advice (but not representation in the court) was given by Maia Orlova, the lawyer for the Coordinating Council; by Inna Ailamazian of the International Armenian Association (Ms. Ailamazian is representing refugees in similar cases in Moscow and has provided free consultations to Troitsk refugees); by a Podolsk lawyer Nina Yakovleva, who was hired by one of the refugee families to represent them at the court hearing and who provided free advice to other families.
The number of cases and their complexities growing, a competent legal representation at the proceedings is desperately needed. The Sakharov Foundation and the Coordinating Center decided to seek help from lawyers in Podolsk as they would be more familiar with the court there - judges personalities are playing significant role in the cases. Thus, we are currently seeking funds to cover immediate needs of the legal representation in all seven cases. In addition, we are considering the possibility of pressing charges against director of the Center.
The refugee cases in Troitsk are important not only because of the fate of 46 people involved. They will help check the uncontrollable and unlawful actions of FMS in other regions, such as many violations by this agency cited in the (report by "'s"Commission).
We ask for urgent help because the situation is desperate. All donations will be disbursed to cover legal expenses (The Sakharov Foundation is not taking any part for administrative or any other expenses). Contributions to The Sakharov Foundations for this purpose should be marked "refugees". If you decide to contribute, see for detailed instructions.
Thank you for your help.