Mahiliou residents continue struggling for their apartments. Prosecutor's office sides with executive committee

Mahiliou Prosecutor's Office believes that the dwelling house No. 59 in Leninskaya Street was given the status of a “hostel” lawfully. This is stated in an answer to a collective appeal, signed by the first deputy prosecutor of the Mahiliou region Pimashkou.

He explains that at first the plot of land where the house is situated was allocated by decision No. 762 of the executive committee of the Council of Worker's Deputies on September 22, 1951, for building a two-stored hostel. The first physical stocking of the house took place on December 28, 1952. The original technical fact sheet is missing from the inventory. However, there are two paper plans of the two floors and the sheets of counting the space, from which it follows that the building was a hostel.

The primary legal registration of homeownership as a hostel was held on February 4, 1954. At that time, the capital building was listed under №61. However, the recording of the capital construction in the register was introduced on the basis of the technical passport which was compiled on April 16, 1988. As far as the technical passport of 1998 was the most relevant at the time of forming the registry documents for the capital building in Leninskaya Street, 59, the information from this technical passport were put in the register. On February 28, 2012 the Ministry of Architecture and construction passed the buildng to the open JSC “Building Trust No. 12” under the contract of uncompensated use, where it was stated that the building was a "hostel".

Pimashkou believes that the warrants for flats in Mahiliou, owned by the citizens, the house register, archival extracts, copies of accounts, charge of the land tax, fees for maintenance and repairs, and ownership of personal telephone connection are not evidence that the building had the status of an apartment house.

By decision of the Mahiliou City Executive Committee of May 29, 2013 No. 14-9 there was approved the at of interdepartmental commission №8, and the building of the hosted in Leninskaya Street, 59 was found not suitable for living, as it allegedly didn't meet sanitary and technical requirements. On January 28, 2014 it was stated that the building was in a critical condition. On decision of the Leninski District Court of February 11, 2014 the citizens who lived in the house were moved to a hostel of the building trust No. 12, receiving at least 6 square meters for a person.

Alena Barysava, lawyer of the Independent Trade Union of Radio Electronic Industry, believes that the Mahiliou City Prosecutor's Office took its decision on the basis of indirect documents:

"Firstly, the house No. 61 in Leninskaya Street really existed and is remembered by Mahiliou residents. It was really a hostel, which was demolished, whereas house No. 59 is a completely different building, which was an apartment house from the very beginning. There one can see an attempt of forgery. Secondly, the officials are constantly confused in their responses and call different dates when the house was declared a hostel. According to one response it happened in 2007, according to the second – in 1988, according to the third – since the beginning of the construction of the house."

In addition, former resident of the house in Leninskaya Street, 59 Natallia Burak states that she owns a notarized testimony of an officer of the building trust No. 12, according to which the real technical passport of the house No. 59 in Leninskaya Street has been destroyed. If there is no original document – it is hard to prove that this is a house, not a hostel. This suggests the existence of a corruption scheme, which allowed the officials to evict the people and save money on resettling them to apartments.

Meanwhile, it became known that the administration of "Building Trust №12" has passed the house to Mahiliou City Executive Committee which has already applied to the appropriate state bodies to transfer to non-residential building fund. Given that the building is in the heart of Mahiliou, it can be lent to varous commercial organizations after its renovation, which will give the authorities by far more profit than what they could receive from ordinary citizens paying taxes for living in their apartments.

At present the victims are preparing an appeal to the Office of the Prosecutor General against the response of the Mahiliou City Prosecutor's Office.