"The Village of Scientists" Rebelled against Officials

Residents of the Loshytsa micro district are asking the court to overturn the decision of the Minsk City Executive Committee on demolition.

Owners of the private sector in Loshytsa, usually called the "village of scientists", made a complaint against the Minsk City Executive Committee. They ask to cancel the decision to seize their plots and demolish houses "for state needs", tut.by writes.

- In May we received the decision on demolition. The decision is based on document No. 1130 "On Upcoming Seizure of Land Plots for State Needs and Demolition of Real Estate Objects on This Area" from 6 April 2017. We believe that this decision does not comply with norms of the current legislation and violates our legitimate rights and interests, residents of the private sector say.

12 owners of houses signed under the complaint. Other 15 owners plan to join the complaint in the near future.

The Village of Scientists is a piece of the private sector within the boundaries of Chizhevskikh Street, the pass and Loshytski Passage, where the third generation of biology scientists, candidates of sciences in the field of chemistry, physics, economics, major software engineers of major campaigns, teachers of leading universities of Minsk live.

According to the first developed project, the private sector in Loshytsa should have been "decontaminated" for the development of the Loshytsa-5 micro district with multi-apartment housing. "The Village of Scientists" -several dozen houses - was promised to be preserved. But two years ago, when a project for building a micro district was put up for public discussion, architects announced that the "village", which by the decision of the Ministry of Culture was of historical value, lost this value and would also be demolished.

"To date, these houses have lost their value in terms of history, as each of these houses has faced changes: buildups, additional building which depreciated the historical value of the street, project architect Halina Perlina says. - Therefore, the Ministry of Culture agreed that this street was no longer of historical value and was subject to demolished.

Right after the presentation, activists collected almost 2.000 signatures against the demolition and sent them to the administration. But several years of struggle did not bring any results, and this April the Minsk City Executive Committee decided to demolish the private sector in Loschytsa, including the "village of scientists".

In their complaint owners of houses indicated several points on which they disagreed with the city's decision. For example, people consider that the decision lacks a proper justification for the withdrawal of land for state needs.

- In case if the land plot is withdrawn for state needs, the decision on its seizure should indicate grounds (one or several) with the attachment of copies of documents (or extracts from them) confirming these grounds. The decision on our houses states "adopted with the aim of realization of the general plan of Minsk in connection with the need to implement the project for the construction of the Loshytsa-5 micro-district in Minsk." But neither the general plan, nor documents for the construction of this object, nor any other documents or extracts from them confirming the legitimacy and validity of the withdrawal of land plots from us were attached to the decision. Moreover, the decision misses any information on a possibility of acquaintance with such documents, local residents say. - The seizure of a land plot for state needs from a legal possessor of right can be justified only if the realization of the emerged need of the state is impossible in another way, except for depriving us of the legal right to a land plot. The decision of the Minsk City Executive Committee does not imply that the development of the Loshytsa-5 is not possible without demolition of our houses.

Those whose houses they want to demolish also point out that, according to the general plan and the state program "Construction of housing for 2016-2020 years", the purpose of the urban development of Minsk is "to create an enabling environment for life and to ensure sustainable development of the city in the interests of the present and future generations" and "conditions for citizens to meet the need for affordable and comfortable housing corresponding to their individual needs and financial opportunities."

Neither this state program nor the general plan mention the creation of an enabling environment for some citizens due to deterioration of living conditions of others and their forced relocation to much less comfortable and familiar conditions for them, owners of private houses say. - Land plots were allocated for perpetual use for the construction of residential houses on legal grounds and the limitation of the period of use of a land plot is unlawful.