The first open auction was to take place on May 12 (in russian), but all of a sudden the HRH building was excluded from the list of objects for sale at that date.

The “inhabitants” of the Human Rights House attribute this fact to the letters of support form the Ombudsman and from Moscow Helsinki Group, sent to the Governor and the Mayor, which served as evidence of Human Rights House organizations being well-known beyond Voronezh and of public attention towards the situation.

Yet, the House is still on the list of objects to be privatized in the times of crisis and the building could well be sold in the months to come. The sale will take place at the commercial price without any preferences for the former tenants.

Prehistory:
In 2005 a similar situation took place in Voronezh with some of the same organizations (Youth Human Rights Movement, Interregional Human Rights Group, Free University and other) involved. The building of independent movie theater, that hosted the organizations, had been sold to private hands under the pretext for creating there a youth centre. The rent increased drastically and forced the civil organizations out. And the movie theater was turned into a casino, naturally with no youth center or anything like that. The public prosecutor's office twice instituted legal proceedings on illegal business activity and large-scale fraud due to the fact of such sale of municipal property, but the organizations had been already deprived of their office space.

To keep the Human Rights House as a lively and growing community, for it to continue its work in a more effective way – your help is needed!

Check out how to help here