“Children of the Gulag” have achieved compensation in Krasnodar

In Krasnodar, a court decision came into force to pay compensation to the Panaetidi family of Greeks, who were repressed in Soviet times. “Children of the Gulag” will receive money from the state to purchase housing in the Seversky district of the Krasnodar Territory, from where their parents were expelled during the deportation of the Greeks in 1942. Previously, Panaetidi had been placed on the waiting list for preferential housing, but it turned out that she was practically not moving. Therefore, they had to go to court again in order to obtain monetary compensation from the regional budget. Lawyer Grigory Vaypan, who represents the interests of other “children of the Gulag”, considers this decision an example for the federal level.

The Krasnodar Regional Court upheld the decision of the Primorsky District Court of Novorossiysk on the suit of the Panaetidi family. He had previously ordered the regional authorities to include the applicants in the list for receiving a one-time “housing” payment from the regional budget. It is intended for the purchase of housing if a citizen is on a preferential line, but the municipality does not have the opportunity to provide him with housing. “Now the Panaetidi family does not have to stand in line, which does not move at all. The family can receive a cash payment and purchase a home in the near future. For the elderly, this is very important, ”lawyer Ivan Kalgin, who has been seeking justice for the repressed Kuban Greeks for several years, explained to Kommersant.

“Kommersant” repeatedly said about the Panaetidi family, whose members were recognized as victims of political repression. Anna, Olga, Nadezhda and Vasily Panaetidi were born on the territory of a special settlement in the Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan, where their parents Ivan Panaetidi and Sofia Tilkeridi were deported during the Great Patriotic War. The deportation of the Greeks was carried out according to the decision of the State Defense Committee of the USSR of May 29, 1942: the Greek population was evicted from those regions of the Soviet Union that were under the threat of occupation. Ivan Panaetidi, who at the time of the deportation was 15 years old, lived in the village of Severskaya in the Krasnodar Territory, Sofia Tilkeridi was a resident of the neighboring village of Ilskaya. In Kazakhstan, members of the Panaetidi family had the status of exiles and could not leave the special settlement. After Stalin’s death, restrictions on special settlers began to be lifted, but the family was able to return to Russia only in the 1990s. Then the “children of the Gulag” Anna, Olga, Nadezhda and Vasily Panaetidi, who settled in Novorossiysk, were recognized as victims of political repressions, who had the right to rehabilitation.

The law guarantees former exiles the right to receive free housing in the area from which their parents were expelled. However, this right proved to be extremely difficult to implement. As previously reported by “Kommersant”, the Panaetidi family first applied to the administration of the Seversky district with an application for registration as those in need of housing in 2020. From the moment lawyer Ivan Kalgin told Kommersant, the applicants had to go through countless instances, proving their right to housing. Officials constantly found arguments to refuse the “children of the Gulag”.

For example, members of the Panaetidi family were required to prove that their father and mother lost their homes in the Seversky District, although the loss of their homes obviously follows from the fact of exile.

Finally, after numerous court cases and complaints, on July 28, 2022, the administration of the Seversky district registered members of the Panaetidi family as those in need of housing. After that, the “children of the Gulag” applied to the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Krasnodar Territory with a statement about replacing the provision of housing with monetary compensation. This possibility is provided for by the decree of the head of the Kuban, Veniamin Kondratiev, dated November 16, 2015 “On approval of the state program “Integrated and sustainable development of the Krasnodar Territory in the field of construction and architecture””. The Decree gives the Heroes of the Krasnodar Territory, Heroes of Labor of the Krasnodar Territory, rehabilitated persons and members of their families the right to a one-time cash payment for the acquisition of housing in the property at the expense of the regional budget.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Kuban refused to members of the Panaetidi family – and the rehabilitated citizens again had to go to court. “In the process, we again encountered a list of meaningless and impracticable requirements, such as the need to prove the fact that the repressed had lost their homes or to confirm their relationship with their parents. Fortunately, the Primorsky Court of Novorossiysk rejected all the arguments of the Ministry of Social Development of the region and ruled in favor of the Panaetidi family. The Ministry of Social Development of the Territory appealed against the judicial act in an appeal, but achieved nothing, ”explained lawyer Ivan Kalgin. It was not possible to quickly get a comment from the Kommersant ministry.

Lawyer Grigory Vaypan, who is engaged in protecting the rights of rehabilitated citizens, considers the court’s decision legal and fair. The situation with the Panaetidi family shows that it is necessary to introduce housing payments at the federal level for “gulag children”, says the lawyer.

“In the Krasnodar Territory and some other regions, special cash payments are provided for victims of repression. In practice, this significantly speeds up the receipt of compensation. But in most regions, the “children of the Gulag” simply fall into the general queue for social housing, which lasts for decades,” the expert said.

He recalled that the Constitutional Court ordered the legislator to exercise the right of victims of repression to receive housing compensation. A government bill was prepared, which drew criticism from human rights activists and the “children of the Gulag” themselves as initially unfeasible. However, it has already “hung” in the State Duma for several years, as well as the amendments to it approved by human rights activists. “We are seeking from the State Duma and the government that such payments be introduced at the federal level and at the expense of the federal budget. Without this, the constitutional principle of equality is violated – the “children of the Gulag” are provided with different guarantees depending on the region of return,” Mr. Vaypan said. over two years.”

Anna Perova, Krasnodar