Residents of the Imeretinskaya Valley who are angry over being evicted from their homes to make way for Olympic facility construction were barred from a meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other evicted residents, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported on Thursday.
The prime minister arrived in the Black Sea city of Sochi on Wednesday to check on preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics. As part of his visit, Putin inspected housing being built for the evicted Imeretinskaya residents – approximately one thousand families coming from 628 houses and 369 apartments.
The residents have been protesting the unfair conditions of their eviction for years, holding demonstrations, hunger strikes, and filing suits with the European Court of Human Rights. The complaints range from the unlawful basis of the evictions to unfair compensation for their confiscated property.
At the same time, Prime Minister Putin has assured officials ...