Nizhny Novgorod, Malaya Yamskaya Street

Malaya Yamskaya — a street with historic buildings in the Upper Part of Nizhny Novgorod. It runs alongside Ilyinskaya Street and leads to Lyadov Square.

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Demolition of the homestead at Malaya Yamskaya, 50

"Novaya Gazeta in Nizhny Novgorod", 2008, No. 53. Aleksey Rozhin

The "Troubled" House on Malaya Yamskaya Street

Scandals over the demolition of dilapidated housing stock — and, far more often, of architectural heritage — unfold in our ancient city with a frequency alarming even to the average resident. The latest episode in the standoff between Nizhny Novgorod residents and the mega-project to develop the city played out on Malaya Yamskaya. It played out loudly, and with a powerful informational aftertaste.

Seizure of the former home of the head of the Nizhny Novgorod ostrog for the purpose of demolition

"On 3 July, court bailiffs, together with law-enforcement officers (OMON riot police) and representatives of the construction company Volgazhilstroy, carried out a partial seizure of the homestead at M. Yamskaya Street, building 50, and destroyed one of the two houses on the property" — this is a quote from an emotional statement by Galiya Yenalyeva that was circulated across the Nizhny Novgorod reaches of Runet a couple of weeks ago. There was nowhere else to circulate it — the situation had turned out to be far too sensitive.

The parties' accounts

Let us begin with the history. The siege of the home of the head of the Nizhny Novgorod Ostrog began in the autumn of 2006, after Volgazhilstroy-NN LLC proposed that the Yenalyev family sell their share of the house. The residents' refusal was taken by the construction company's owners as a call to arms: attempts were made to seize parts of the house, the plot was partitioned with fences, and the Yenalyevs were even shot at with a rubber-bullet weapon. This was followed by numerous court hearings, the last of which settled the matter definitively: a ruling was issued to transfer part of the house to the developers.

According to the owners, no court ruling was presented to them during the demolition. They were also given no notice of the forthcoming actions. One might also mention Yenalyeva's car, which vanished without a trace. The picture is vivid. On footage recorded by the surveillance system (installed by the Yenalyevs themselves), the car can be seen being carried off by the raiders — almost literally carried, by hand. The purpose of such an elaborate maneuver is difficult to fathom.

Galiya learned that her house was being demolished from relatives, as she had been at work since the morning. According to her, preparations for the operation to seize the property began on the evening of 2 July.

The timeline of hostilities begins on 3 July, when Ministry of Justice officers arrived at Malaya Yamskaya by 5:00 a.m. Within an hour, the head of the public-order police of the Nizhegorodsky District Police Department, Colonel Vyacheslav Nikitin, had also arrived. Demolition of the structures on the plot began at the same time. The "raiders" managed to demolish one house. They not only tore it down but also fenced off part of the plot adjacent to the house that, under the court ruling, belonged to the Yenalyevs. At the time, Yenalyeva's seventy-year-old mother and her twelve-year-old daughter were inside the second house.

The Yenalyevs' criminal complaints against the "builders" have since gone unexamined. What is more, the construction permit issued to Volgazhilstroy by the city administration recently expired. However, according to some reports, Governor Valery Shantsev personally extended it.

The other party to the conflict holds a somewhat different view.

Legal aspects

According to Volgazhilstroy-NN LLC's deputy director, Marina Sizina, the company owns half the shares in the homestead on Malaya Yamskaya Street. Volgazhilstroy-NN relocated the residents from building No. 50a and leased that building to Regioninveststroy Plus CJSC. The crux of the matter, in our view, is that the half-share had been allocated in kind. In plain terms, they could not divide property that had been defined not by area but only by shares. It is precisely for this reason that one cannot claim that the demolished house contained no share belonging to Galiya Yenalyeva. Yenalyeva herself calls this "legalized lawlessness" — because a court ruling had nonetheless been issued.

"According to UFRS and IFNS records, Volgazhilstroy-NN LLC is not the owner of the property of the individual homestead No. 50 on Malaya Yamskaya Street," says Yenalyeva. "If the director of Volgazhilstroy-NN LLC considers the homestead's owners to be his debtors, then his actions and the actions of the debtor-citizens must strictly comply with Article 255 of the Civil Code — 'Enforcement of a claim against a share in common property' — which does not provide for the destruction of the immovable property of a capital construction object."

"The court issued only a ruling on the allocation of shares in kind, on the division of the residential building (residential premises) by the owners," Galiya emphasizes. "There is no ruling on the division of the common property of the individual homestead — a single object of urban development activity. Furthermore, the allocation of a share in kind from an indivisible thing held in common shared ownership is prohibited by law. I am referring to Articles 133, 244, and 252 of the Civil Code." Particularly dangerous

One thing remains unclear: were the steps taken to demolish the house a harsh, demonstrative action, or necessary measures? And measures toward what end? Galiya herself considers it "not a conflict but a criminally punishable act against property." It is strange that, for some reason, enforcement of the court ruling was carried out by officers of the regional department rather than the Nizhegorodsky District division of the Federal Bailiff Service. "For what reason was a platoon of special forces deployed against a woman with a child?" demands Yenalyeva. "There was no court ruling against me or my property, and I was robbed in broad daylight."

"I am defending my violated constitutional right to the inviolability of property and home, a favorable living environment, and freedom of choice of residence," Galiya adds.

The special-forces unit most likely arrived to maintain public order in the event that anyone came to the residents' assistance — and such precedents had already occurred: the previous year, when an attempt was made to erect a concrete fence on the plot, representatives of various opposition groups turned out. After that, Galiya Yenalyeva herself became an active participant in the struggle against "legalized lawlessness" and began accumulating certain political dividends. In this way, for instance, she became a delegate from Nizhny Novgorod Region to the congress of the "Other Russia" coalition. But according to Yenalyeva, her active civic stance resulted in threats raining down on her and her daughter from various quarters, forcing her to cease her public activities — apparently in the hope that this would help. Yet it was precisely when the noise died down and Galiya had cut off virtually all contact with the opposition that the house was demolished. Evidently, compromises are not always appropriate. Especially with those in power.

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