IPO «Spravedlivost» starts a public investigation of the situation in «Rechnik» settlement in the west of Moscow. Pulling down of the houses in the settlement began On January 21, 2010, but the story of the opposition of the inhabitants and the urabn authorities had lasted for several years already, and each party has its truth.
As the house owners state, gardening on the left bank of Moskva river appeared in the mid 50s. According to them, land share on the right of permanent use was undertaken at that time and the plot was assigned to Karamyshevsky waterworks structure. The enterprise workers (many of them were war veterans) began to build a settlement. In 1996 the right of state enterprise «Moskva Channel» on this plot was confirmed and it was registered as federal property. Presently Moscow Government tries to acknowledge judicially these buildings unlawful and pull them down.

According to the inhabitants, first the Prefecture of the Western Administrative District, Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor’s Board, Krylatskoye district board and territorial Moscow board of Rosimushchestvo registered suits against the entity «Rechnik». However, all judicial decisions concerning release of the plot by the gardeners were cancelled by the Moscow District Federal Arbitrage Court. Kuntsevo District Court and Moscow State Court Bar confirmed the gardeners’ right on the plot in the area of Karamyshevsky waterworks structure and acknowledged the agreement of permanent use dated February 15, 1957 as valid.
After that the authorities filed suits gainst gardeners in person and managed to get about 20 default judgements which are now the basis for pulling down the houses.
The inhabitants are sure: Moscow authorities have no right to dispose of the federal land and pull down their houses. Moreover, they state that they have been given no opportunity on purpose to use the «cottage amnesty» and make their building legal, and judicial decisions by which police officer are governed have not come into effect yet.
The officials’ version comes to the fact that the living houses are located in the area of the special secure park «Moskvoretsky» where no capital constructions can be built up. According to some information, a month is assigned to pull down the settlement. It is the time to demolish nearly 200 houses. No entitlement payments for them are provided.
In the meantime, the settlement inhabitants do not intend to surrender and try to defend their rights. Some house owners filed appeals to the European Human Rights Court, and their complaints had been already considered.