Nizhny Novgorod Ombudsman spoke about work to protect human rights
Why sometimes HRO can be more useful for citizens, than a representative of a particular human rights body?
Oksana Kislitsyna: Должностное лицо обязано строго придерживаться требований нормативных актов и регламентов, think in categories “legally – illegally”.
For a human rights defender, it is the person who is the main value and it is his interests that are paramount.. The Ombudsman operates not only with concepts “legality”, but also “humanity”, “Justice”, “consistency”. There, where the official will legally refuse, the ombudsman seeks options for assistance.
Can you give a specific example?
Oksana Kislitsyna: Тимур (let's call it like this) contacted us after, how the District Court upheld the decision of the Regional Office for Migration to revoke the applicant's temporary residence permit (RVP) on the territory of the Russian Federation. RVP was canceled due to the, that the employee of the department did not accept as proof of Timur's work activity and the availability of the necessary income from the bank account of the applicant and his wife.
Our experts have established, that Timur's wife – businessman, their combined income is sufficient, so as not to seek help from the state. We gave a reasoned answer about the unfoundedness of the decision of the district court, and this helped Timur to prepare an appeal. As a result, the regional court declared the cancellation of the RVP illegal.
In May of this year, wheelchair users complained about bus and trolleybus drivers, which do not help people with disabilities when boarding and disembarking. How this story ended?
Oksana Kislitsyna: Пришлось глубоко погрузиться в транспортную тему. In the summer they interviewed 940 Nizhny Novgorod, more than half of them noted the low accessibility of public transport for people with limited mobility.
The results of the survey were sent to the regional Ministry of Transport, and in September with its specialists and representatives of public organizations of people with disabilities, going out to stops, convinced: the operation of passenger transport does not guarantee its availability. Many drivers and conductors do not have the skills to assist wheelchair users and may even injure them, moving along folding ramps. And the most unpleasant thing: there were facts of disapproving attitude of passengers towards delays due to the embarkation and disembarkation of a person in a wheelchair.
That is, we need to talk not only about the availability of buses and trolleybuses., but also about the unpreparedness of society for transport inclusion?
Oksana Kislitsyna: Yes. Therefore, we supported the activists of the Nizhny Novgorod regional public organization “Invatur” in project development “Active movement”, whose purpose – formation of a positive attitude towards passengers with limited mobility. IN 2021 year the project became one of the winners of the regional competition for state grants.
The publication of posters and memos for the residents of the region is planned, conducting instructional sessions with drivers, public control over passenger traffic, as well as legal support for resolving possible conflicts.
Tell us about the most striking cases, when your help helped people.
Oksana Kislitsyna: A man who was serving a sentence in IK-20 of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Nizhny Novgorod Region applied to our office with a request for assistance in terminating the status of an individual entrepreneur (IP) without paying for signature verification services. For persons, held in places of deprivation of liberty, this procedure is very difficult. They cannot personally appear at the tax authority or apply through the website of public services, and their signature on the corresponding application must be certified by a notary or by an employee of the MFC .
In the spring of 2020, the assistant ombudsman in the region was involved in solving the problem, where is the colony. He organized a free visit to IK-20 by a representative of the MFC and facilitated the submission of the convicted person's application to the tax office in electronic form.. His IP status was terminated. But it turned out: as an individual entrepreneur, he was registered eleven days after his arrest in 2015. In places of deprivation of liberty, the convicted person forgot, that I wanted to do business, and I learned about the fact of registration of an individual entrepreneur, when the executive orders received the writ of execution. He was annually charged insurance premiums in the amount of about 40 thousand rubles.
By the summer of 2021, the convict was released. For 4,5 years from him was withheld 67 thousand rubles, but still had to pay 96 thousand. The injustice is clear, therefore, we went to court with a claim to cancel the decision of the PF and tax inspectorates on the calculation of insurance premiums and penalties. Despite the objections of two inspections of the Federal Tax Service, the court satisfied the claim.
A source: https://rg.ru/
