Moscow government amends federal laws

The Moscow City Court has today begun hearing of a lawsuit for declaring invalid the Moscow government directive about rules of registration and deregistration of citizens. As lawyer Igor Trunov acting on behalf of 16 claimants told Caucasian Knot, the Moscow government has passed a huge number of additional rules that regulate this process and make it more difficult and considerably different from the corresponding federal legislation which is effective throughout the rest of Russia.

Mr Trunov believes the Moscow government directive is only to the advantage of corrupted officials. "We have been contacted by dwellers of residence halls who have no money for bribes and other extortion. Therefore, they remain unregistered, foreign workforce without rights," says the lawyer. "Meanwhile, their children suffer because they have no registration either and cannot go to schools or kindergartens or get treatment in hospitals." Mr Trunov gave the example of one family, with the wife having been registered in Moscow for ten years already, unable, however, to have her husband and children registered because of Moscow laws.

"We demand that Moscow's legislation should be in keeping with the federal legislation. After all, subjects of the federation have no right to develop any new rules or change those approved by the government of Russia," explains Trunov.

Svetlana Gannushkina, Chairman of the Civil Assistance Committee, says, "Arrivals from the North Caucasus have the greatest difficulties in obtaining registration in Moscow. There are secret instructions not to register natives of Chechnya, for example, in Moscow."

"Unfortunately, we have the law, rules that violate and narrow the law, and practice that denies everything: both the law and the rules. That's the triad we have," emphasised Ms Gannushkina.

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