The court ordered the demolition of the unauthorized construction on the site of the cut-down grove in Rostov-on-Don.

The Primorsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don ordered entrepreneur Maria Tambieva to demolish an unauthorized construction on the site at the intersection of Zelenaya Street and Sholokhov Avenue, where a spruce grove was cut down.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in April, the Supreme Court of Russia returned the activists' lawsuit regarding the illegality of construction on the site of the spruce grove to the appellate instance. The struggle of the townspeople to preserve the spruces has been ongoing for several years: in November 2023, activists demanded to stop the cutting down of trees near the Aviators Park in the Primorsky District.

On July 20, the judicial panel on administrative cases of the Rostov Regional Court partially satisfied the residents' demands. The panel annulled the decision of the Primorsky District Court from December 5, 2024, which legalized the construction, and sent the case for a new hearing. The notification from the Primorsky District administration about the permissibility of placing an individual housing construction or garden house on the site was recognized as illegal, as well as the inaction of the administration regarding the illegal construction.

The panel rejected the complaint about the tree cutting, citing the lack of information that the site was within the boundaries of the Rostov City Forestry, and that the cut trees belonged to the city forest. "If they had also recognized this as illegal, then it would have been necessary to hold accountable the judge of the regional court who justified the legality of the tree cutting," said lawyer Irina Yakimiv, representing the residents' interests, to a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".

History of the site

During the proceedings, it was revealed that preparations for construction began long before the resale of the site to Tambieva in 2023, Yakimiv said.

The site was acquired in 2014 by Rostov resident Andrey Pern at a significantly reduced price, to improve the living conditions of his disabled daughter. In 2018, he announced plans to build a residential house of 39 square meters, but when connecting to the cold water supply, he indicated 250 square meters of construction and 550 square meters of paving. According to the Unified State Register of Real Estate (EGRN) from July 17, 2021, the permitted uses of the site were expanded to include the construction of shops and catering enterprises. The Pern family never started building the residential house.

In December 2021, Vladimir Shubin purchased the disabled girl's share in the site. According to him, he bought the share at Pern's request, and two years later, at his request, sold it to Tambieva. For her share, the girl received 3 million rubles and a gift deed for half of an apartment, in which she already lived. "That is, the living conditions, for which the site was obtained, were not improved," noted Yakimiv.

The position of the director of the property and land relations department of Rostov-on-Don and head of the city commission for agreeing on the results of the assessment during the sale of the site to Pern was held by Tambieva's ex-husband Alexander Tambiev. In addition, Maria Tambieva had long been acquainted with Pern: he headed one of the companies that she currently leads.

The actions of Pern and Tambieva "indicate that Pern A.V. had no intention of achieving the goal for which the disputed site was acquired," the appellate court's decision states. "All of the above collectively indicates that the process of acquiring the land plot located at the address Rostov-on-Don, Zelenaya Street, 2a, formally, although it had the appearance of realizing the social rights of a disabled child, was actually aimed at acquiring the site at a reduced price for its subsequent alienation to an affiliated person," the court indicated.

Hearing on September 9

The new hearing began with a procedural delay, Yakimiv reported. "The judge asks the parties: do you have the ruling of the appellate instance? And here the lawyer for the administration says: I don't have it, it wasn't sent to us. This looks very strange because all 40 plaintiffs in the case received the ruling," she said.

Then, according to her, the plaintiffs found themselves at risk of losing due to the arguments of Tambieva's lawyer. "He argued like this: if the building already exists, is registered in the state register, and has received a cadastral number, then even the recognition of the district administration's notification as illegal is not a basis for demolition. The court hesitated a bit, but then the representative of the prosecutor's office spoke, stating that the construction remains unauthorized and therefore subject to demolition," Yakimiv said.

The court ordered Tambieva to demolish the illegally constructed building within six months from the date the decision comes into legal force and to bring the site into compliance with the permitted use specified in the general plan of Rostov-on-Don.

Maria Tambieva declined to comment on the court's decision. The administration of the Primorsky District has not yet provided comments to "Caucasian Knot."