The head of a Sochi gardening association has been accused of seizing national park land

The prosecutor's office charged the chairman of a gardening association with illegally seizing land in the Sochi National Park and felling trees. Damages were estimated at 156 million rubles, and the case has been referred to court.

As reported by the " Caucasian Knot ," in September 2021, the Kuban prosecutor's office announced the discovery of fraud involving lands belonging to the Sochi National Park. Fraudsters seized over 2,000 hectares of land and planned to clear the forest for construction, the agency reported. In connection with the investigation, over 11,000 land plots belonging to Sochi residents were seized.   Activists stated that the investigation is demonstrative and does not impede development on the national park's lands.

04:51 18.12.2024

A Sochi activist filed a lawsuit against the Prosecutor General's Office for the protection of her honor and dignity.

Tatyana Polivanova, who provides legal assistance to Sochi gardeners in connection with land seizures, accused the Russian Prosecutor General's Office of disseminating false information and filed a lawsuit against it in the Supreme Court.

The Sochi Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office conducted an inspection of compliance with the law within the Sochi National Park, the Kuban Prosecutor's Office reported on its Telegram channel on December 6.

"It has been established that, since 2021, the chairperson of the Mercury gardening association has illegally seized part of the Verkhne-Sochinskoye forestry area of ​​the Sochi National Park. To create the appearance of gardening, the illegally occupied area has been fenced with metal mesh, and information signs have been posted showing a diagram of the garden plots and indicating the association's private property," the publication states.

Additionally, instances of tree destruction were discovered – including oriental beech, hornbeam, Iberian oak, and black alder. A criminal case has been opened under two articles of the Russian Criminal Code: Part 3 of Article 30, Part 4 of Article 159 (attempted fraud), and Part 3 of Article 260 (illegal logging of forest stands on an especially large scale).

"Damages amounting to over 156 million rubles were incurred, which prompted a lawsuit seeking compensation. Following the prosecutor's response, the damages were compensated," the agency reported.

12:40 28.01.2025

The Constitutional Court sided with Sochi gardeners.

The court ruled that the authorities must either retain the land plot within the boundaries of the National Park for its owner or provide compensation unless there is evidence that the plot was acquired in bad faith.

The day before, on December 5, the agency reported that the Sochi prosecutor's office had approved the indictment against Irina Rastorgueva, chairwoman of the Mercury gardening association, who was accused of fraud.

"The investigation established that in 2015, the chairperson of the Mercury gardening association, acting as part of a group of individuals and without intending to use the land for gardening, submitted falsified documents to the registration authority proving her rights to the land, with the intent of stealing it from Sochi National Park. Moreover, the accused, as chairperson of the association, was reliably aware that the other defendants in the criminal group were not members, and that lands covered by perennial forest plantations could not be used for gardening," the department's Telegram channel stated.

According to the investigation, the chairperson of the SNT "ensured the submission of forged documents to the registration authority, on the basis of which the land plots were subsequently removed from state ownership."

"Furthermore, the aforementioned actions of the accused, aimed at attracting investment and subsequent commercial use of the stolen land, involved the logging of particularly valuable relict forest species (beech, oak, hornbeam, and others) over an area of ​​approximately 2 hectares. The prosecutor's office has sent the criminal case to court for consideration on the merits," the prosecutor's office reported.

As a reminder, in December 2021, Irina Rastorgueva, chair of the Mercury SNT, told the "Caucasian Knot" that the association's members had been seeking registration for 50 legally allocated land plots with the mayor's office and Rosreestr for several years, but were denied permission under the pretext that the SNT is located on national park lands.

This is not a squatting

"The SNT lands were allocated in accordance with the law and as part of land reform. This is not an illegal seizure. The SNT territory is under the jurisdiction of the local government, not the Russian Federation. The prosecutor's office, having allegedly discovered "violations" in the issuance of certificates, should have first submitted a request to the city administration demanding that the violations be corrected, that the residents be fined for inaction, etc. In other words, it should have applied the full range of prosecutorial measures. But it certainly should not have made citizens defendants and removed their plots from the SNT territory, which was established by the land management file and general plan, graphically documented in the state deed, registered in the Book of State Deeds of the City of Sochi, which is kept in the state archive of Rosreestr," Rastorgueva said.