Resident of Dagestan complains to Putin about corrupt law enforcers

The members of a public association that built an apartment building in Dagestan are being subjected to extortion and blackmail by law enforcers and judges who are preventing the building legalization. This was stated by Gadjimurad Abdulmazhidov, the initiator of the construction.

"My wife and I have worked all our lives for the benefit of the society and the country. I taught physical culture, led a children's ensemble, studied music and choreography. We raised four of our own and three adopted children. Despite this, we received no housing from the state and it was difficult for us to provide a high living standard for our family," Gadjimurad has stated.

The decision to build an apartment building on our own seemed like a way out of a difficult housing situation. In 2015, the Abdulmazhidovs, having united with other families in a similar situation, created the Public Council of Civil Society without registering a legal entity and began the construction on a land plot belonging to one of the members of the association.

"We built a six-story 35-apartment building, observing all the construction rules. Different nationals live in the house: Avars, Kumyks, Russians, Tabasarans, Dargins, Lezgins and Rutuls. The tenants are teachers, doctors, the military servicemen who took part in special military operation (SMO), families of deceased SMO fighters, disabled people and other socially vulnerable citizens," Mr Abdulmazhidov has emphasized.

Russian laws allow the creation of a public organization without forming a legal entity, Vera Dmitrieva, a lawyer, has explained.

Problems began after the completion of the construction: a resident of the neighbouring house, a lawyer, demanded that he be paid five million roubles. "He threatened that if we fail to fulfil his demand, then he, as a lawyer, would set officials with whom he had connections on us. He said that he would sue us and achieve the demolition of our house," says Gadjimurad Abdulmazhidov.

When the tenants refused to pay the required amount, the lawyer filed a lawsuit in the Leninsky District Court of Makhachkala. According to Gadjimurad, the judges made illegal decisions to demolish their house. "All these judges’ decisions were recognized as illegal and cancelled ... But the lawyer and his son continue preventing the launch of the operation of our house by filing complaints against us in court with slanderous information, stating that the location of our house violates his rights," Gadjimurad Abdulmazhidov asserts.

The situation is complicated, according to Gadjimurad, by the actions of an organized criminal grouping, which, as he claims, has been terrorizing his family since 2016, extorting money and apartments. "I’ve been attacked for several times. The gang members continue visiting me at my place of residence, threatening to kill me and my family members. They also offered money to my wife Yarkhanat so that she would persuade me to drop my statements to the police and divorce me," Gadjimurad has added.

The tenants fear that they could lose both their property and money if the house is demolished.

"As a result of this blackmail, which has been going on for more than 10 years, we have already grown old; people are tired of this terror and are sick from nerves ... Living at home has become dangerous and inconvenient," said one of the residents.

Interior Ministry Colonel Amir Kolov, who is challenging in court his dismissal for criticizing the bosses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), is familiar with the problem of the tenants of this apartment building. In his opinion, the criminal elements acting in Dagestani regions have become a real threat to the republic’s security. The actions of the gangs mainly affect ordinary citizens who do not know how to protect their rights with the help of the law.