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A JUST RUSSIA brings to Ukrainian courts 3.500 legal claims of the Donbas residents over the delayed pension payments 24 марта 2015 Party A JUST RUSSIA is going to direct 3,500 legal claims to the Ukrainian courts from the pensioners living on the DPR territory. Sergei Mironov, Chairman of Party A JUST RUSSIA informed the press conference held at INA "Russia Today" that the International organizations would also be informed about the pensioners’ demand to pay the pensions. Aleksey Zhigulin, a lawyer from Donetsk, and Daniil Schipkov, the head of the human rights organization "Spravedlivaya Zaschita" (A Just Protection) also spoke at the press conference "On the Humanitarian catastrophe in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The problem of delays in payments of pensions and other social allowances." There were presented the facts of violations of the rights of the citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic in view of passing some laws and regulations by the bodies of state authority of Ukraine: the rights for an adequate standard of living, freedom of movement and a fair legal defense. One of the burning issues is delays in payments of pensions and other social allowances, and impossibility for the pensioners living on the territory of DPR to apply to any judicial authorities for restoration of their rights as there are no postal communications and because of an actual travel ban. At the beginning of his speech, Sergei Mironov drew the journalists’ attention to the boxes with 3,500 claims of the DPR residents which were placed in the conference hall. He stressed that the Donbas residents had not been receiving pensions and allowances since July although the authorities of Ukraine stopped making any payments de jure in early December last year. He also told the audience that 2,500 applications with the demand to restore the rights of the Donbas pensioners for receiving pensions and other social allowances would be handed over to the authorized human rights representative of the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine. Sergei Mironov expressed his gratitude to Aleksey Zhigulin "who took the trouble to visit so many residents and help them to execute their claims", and then brought them to Moscow. The parliamentarian also added that the way the claims were executed deprived the claimants of the necessity to appear in Ukrainian courts. Talking about the reasons for transporting the documents through Russia, Sergei Mironov emphasized that the DPR residents were actually unable to hand them over to legal authorities of Ukraine: the postal service is not functioning, and people are unable to go to court due to the blockade of the region carried out by the Ukrainian militants. "Party A JUST RUSSIA took responsibility and duty to post the given claims to the corresponding instances so that they were ready for consideration by the law courts in Ukraine," Sergei Mironov declared. "Delays in payments of pensions to the residents who are in DPR is not only a violation of the Constitution of Ukraine because these people are de facto and de jure the citizens of Ukraine in any case; it is a violation of point 8 of the latest Minsk agreements according to which the Kiev authorities committed themselves to provide payments of social allowances and first of all, pensions. They have not done it. This is where the necessity of such claims proceeds from," Sergei Mironov declared. Aleksey Zhigulin thanked A JUST RUSSIA and particularly Sergei Mironov for their quick response to the appeal to assist in handing over the claims. "Such an unusual way of handing over the claims is caused by the trade and financial blockade," he stated. "It is evident that the people who would transport the claims to the Ukrainian courts are sure to be sanctioned by the Ukrainian law-enforcement authorities," Aleksey Zhigulin declared. Daniil Schepkov noted that organization "Spravedlivaya Zaschita" was actively working with the human rights activists of Donbas, providing help with collection of materials and their sending to the corresponding instances. He offered the journalists to familiarize with the materials about the facts of human rights violations in Donbas during the last months; in particular, about military crimes and the social situation in the region. One can find this information on site sprz.org. Daniil Schipkov said that organization "Spravedlivaya Zaschita" would prepare a report devoted to the anniversary of the events in Donbas and the facts of human rights violation in this region. The report will have been prepared by the end of April. "I’d like to stress that these boxes in front of you really contain the claims from the particular pensioners – grandmothers and grandfathers who are unable to defend themselves and suffer from the actions targeted against them," he stressed. Sergei Mironov and Aleksey Zhigulin signed an act of receipt and transfer of the register of legal claims and applications to the human rights representative of the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine. Answering the journalists’ questions, Sergei Mironov expressed his hope for the right decision of the courts of the neighboring country: to oblige the Pension Fund of Ukraine to make the pension claims payments which will finally stimulate the authorities of the neighboring country to fulfill the Minsk agreements. According to Aleksey Zhigulin, it is necessary to bring to trial those who took the decision to leave without means of support the citizens of the eastern regions of Ukraine who are not socially protected. In the end, Sergei Mironov expressed his assurance that a mass sending of the claims would be noticed by the authorities of Ukraine: "We will inform the international structures, OSCE and the parliaments of European countries so that they would push Kiev into fulfillment of its obligations."
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