DORM-TO-DORM FIGHTING FOR WORKING-CLASS HOUSING IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 001959

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2018
TAGS: PHUM ECON PGOV RS
SUBJECT: DORM-TO-DORM FIGHTING FOR WORKING-CLASS HOUSING IN
MOSCOW

Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Robert Patterson for reason 1
.4 (d).


1. (C) Summary: The June 24 eviction melee between residents
of a communal apartment building on one side and police and
employees of the Federal Prison Service (FSIN) on the other
was the latest round of the ongoing struggle for
working-class housing in Moscow. The housing rights
advocates, led by Moscow NGO DOM ("Home"),have defended the
interests of those threatened with eviction following the
privatization of dormitory apartment buildings. According to
human rights advocates, the housing rights movement is the
most vibrant and successful example of widespread grassroots
movements in the country. End summary.


2. (U) The ongoing case of the Yasnoy Proyezd apartment
building presents a tangle of conflicting interests:
long-term residents facing eviction, their NGO advocates, the
courts, and the federal and local government. It has also
brought to light the work of a vibrant grassroots movement
that is successfully defending the rights of some of Russia's
poorest residents from claims on their homes.

The Grand Prize: An Old Factory Dormitory
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3. (U) The Yasnoy building is a decaying 12-story relic of
the Khrushchev era. Some of the 180 apartments lack windows,
some lack power, and most residents heat their rooms with
kerosene heaters, according to Yasnoy resident and DOM
Chairman Irina Bergaliyeva. The building is located in the
northeast region of the city of Moscow, inside the MKAD
(beltway),on land whose value has been rapidly appreciating
in Moscow's real estate boom. According to DOM, more than
2,000 similar dorm-type apartment buildings in the Moscow
region have yet to be privatized.


4. (U) For years the Yasnoy building was owned by a nearby
garment factory and used as a dormitory for its workers.
When the factory went bankrupt, the unemployed residents
retained their apartments, but legal ownership of the
building was transferred to the federal government property
office. In 2004, ownership of the building was transferred to
the Federal Prison Service (FSIN) for use in housing prison
guards and FSIN employees. Longterm residents, including some
ethnic Georgians and Abkhaz (some of whom are Russian
citizens),protested the transfer and took the case to court.
According to DOM, 135 Muscovite families and 15 refugee
families live in the building, and 15-20 apartments had been
have been appropriated by FSIN since 2004. Bergaliyeva told
us that FSIN employees were from outside Moscow, most from
Ingushetiya. The apartments in other buildings in which they
were to have been housed had been sold, as a result of what
Bergaliyeva termed official corruption.

The Court Case: Near Victory Undone by a Substitute Judge
-------------- --------------


5. (C) In November 2007, in the latest round of the on-going
conflict, the residents of three of the Yasnoy apartments
filed suit against the FSIN, which was attempting to evict
them. After several delays, Judge Dmitriy Dubrovin announced
that he would issue his decision on ownership of the three
flats on June 19. On June 17, with no advance notice,
Dubrovin was removed from the case and replaced by Judge
Irina Sumenkova. Bergaliyeva told us on July 3 that Dubrovin
had been sympathetic to their case, and as the government
defendants had not attended the court proceedings since the
beginning, she had been confident that the plaintiffs would
win. According to Bergaliyeva, "Sumenkova didn't even read
the case materials -- she dismissed everything within five
minutes." Sumenkova ruled in favor of FSIN, but told the
plaintiffs that her written decision would not be issued
until after the summer recess, at which time the residents
could file an appeal.


6. (C) On June 24, court bailiffs, accompanied by members of
the FSIN, went to the Yasnoy building to carry out the court
order. According to DOM and three residents who spoke at a
press conference on July 1, the bailiffs evicted those
residents (all refugees) from the three apartments listed in
the judgment. The FSIN guards then proceeded to clear out an
additional three apartments, beating residents, and throwing
their possessions out the window, according to several
eyewitnesses and journalists. The six apartments were then
sealed with steel doors. Moscow City Duma Deputy Sergey
Mitrokhin, the new head of Yabloko and a member of the
Committee on Housing and Urban Development, told us that he
was assaulted by FSIN guards when he and other housing
advocates attempted to re-open the sealed apartments.
Mitrokhin told us that the FSIN guards were mostly ethnic

Ingush, who "looked like skinheads." "They were shouting
'Allah Akbar' before indiscriminately beating people with
truncheons." Mitrokhin and press reports said that the
elderly, women, and children were among those beaten.


7. (C) According to Bergaliyeva, DOM filed a complaint with
the Human Rights Ombudsman on July 2, and residents from the
building will file separate complaints. She had spoken with
the District Prosecutor and is hopeful that he will initiate
a case against FSIN. DOM conducted a protest outside the
Yasnoy building on July 3 and continues to raise the public
profile of the case.


8. (U) At a July 8 news conference, Moscow FSIN Director
Vladimir Davydov defended the actions of his employees on
June 24 and promised to help evict another 50 "illegal
residents" (i.e. refugees) living in five other Yasnoy
apartments. Davydov claimed that the June 24 eviction had
been lawfully carried out by the bailiffs, and that the FSIN
employees had been there only to help maintain order. When
the journalists, some of whom had been present at the June 24
fight, questioned Davydov's account, he refused to respond.

An Effective Grassroots Movement
--------------


9. (C) Human Rights leaders have cited DOM, and like-minded
affiliates throughout the country, as examples of successful
grassroots movements. Moscow Helsinki Group Chair Lyudmilla
Alekseyeva confirmed the account provided us by Bergaliyeva.
Alekseyeva had called the Ministry of Justice (which has
oversight of FSIN) to protest the violence on June 24. She
had also notified Human Rights Ombudsman Lukin, who in turn
had called Moscow Police Chief Pronin. The latter, she said,
had not intervened. Sky-high real estate prices meant that
such collisions occurred frequently in Moscow, Alekseyeva
said. She said that the housing rights movement, similar to
the car-owners movement, was an encouraging sign of progress
in civil society development, since it demonstrated the
ability of like-minded citizens to join together, work with
(or against) the government to solve their problems.

Comment
--------------


10. (C) This particular case is a stew of vexing issues:
housing, corruption, the role of NGOs and the press, property
rights, and ethnic tensions. Although not as visible or
dramatic as other human rights campaigns, the housing rights
movement has been persistent and effective in its work. The
problems of housing the poor are often pushed to the
background amidst the glitter of high-end real estate
development in Moscow, but the problems that thousands face
are bad and will likely only get worse. With a lack of new
housing for the working class, a lack of transparency from
the courts, and the continued eviction of residents from
their existing homes, we expect this problem to worsen.
BEYRLE