Deception, forgery, barbarism ... Development of Berezovaya Alley has become a hot spot in Moscow

But the prosecutor's office caught on a bit late: the developer had already chopped up and shoveled the famous Birch Alley...

Julia Suntsova

On the map of Moscow there is a new hotspot: the RC "Festival Park-2".

Previously, there was a quiet residential area, five-story buildings were buried in greenery. Then the Sobyanin renovation knocked on the door, and, according to the current resolution of the Moscow Government, three high-rise residential buildings, a kindergarten and a sports and recreation center were to appear here. Ultimately, the developer Center-Invest, in view of its obligation to transfer thousands of square meters of social housing to the city, somehow agreed on eight towers 24-35 stories high.

“Not only has the developer somehow magically shoved eight skyscrapers, but he is also destroying the Berezovaya Alley, a landmark for the district”, - says Lyubov Korotkova, a member of the initiative group :

- The Center-Invest project has been approved with many violations, there is nowhere for an apple to fall. We have been writing complaints to all kinds of authorities for six months. In huge crowds with volumes of documents, as if to work, we go to prosecutors, architects, deputies, we knock down the thresholds of environmental departments and the capital's Department of Environmental Management. We have submitted several thousand living signatures to Sobyanin. Our petition on Change.org drew 15,000 more. People come out to the alley all the time to peacefully express their protest. The prosecutor's office itself, as you know, is very unhurried. The excitement of this case is the result of our six-month titanic joint work. Without the activity of residents, nothing would have happened, - the interlocutor notes.

On July 9, after large-scale checks of the developer Center-Invest, the Moscow Prosecutor's Office announced the initiation of a criminal case on the fact of using a forged document to legalize construction. We are talking about the buildings of the second stage "Festival Park" on the street. Festivalnaya, 15, under construction with the involvement of equity holders. Judging by the Center-Invest website, apartment sales have not yet started. The prosecutor's office, however, already sees risks for potential buyers.

“In the course of the prosecutor’s inspection, it was established that the developer, in order to obtain a building permit, submitted a forged land plot lease agreement, certified by the signature and seal of the organization, indicating a deliberately false cadastral number of the land plot on which the construction was carried out.

Since in the actions of the officials who presented the forged contract, signs of a crime under Art. 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (use of a deliberately forged document), the materials of the prosecutor's check were sent to the preliminary investigation body to resolve the issue of criminal prosecution. After their consideration, a criminal case was initiated, ”the website of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation says.

Materials for the decision to initiate a criminal case under Art. 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the first deputy prosecutor of Moscow, Sergey Savenkov, was sent to the Moscow Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the deputy of the Levoberezhny municipal district of Moscow, Viktor Grekhov, the prosecutor's submission was submitted to the chairman of Mosgosstroynadzor Oleg Antosenko and the chairman of the Moskomarkhitektura Yuliana Knyazhevskaya; two employees of these departments were also brought to disciplinary responsibility. But so far this entails only administrative responsibility for officials.

The accused in the criminal case on forged documents have not yet been announced; it may take from several months to several years to transfer the case to court.

As it became known to Novye Izvestia, the basis of the charges in the criminal case under Part 5 of Article 327 (production and circulation of forged documents) may lie in the criminal actions of both officials of the developer and employees of Mosgosstroynadzor and Moskomarkhitektura.

The first deputy chairman of the Moskomarkhitektura, chief architect of the city of Moscow, Sergey Kuznetsov, issued to Center-Invest JSC a certificate of approval of an architectural and urban planning solution without a valid lease agreement and in the absence of title documents for the land plot. In addition, the Moskomarkhitektura committed violations in the preparation of the urban planning plan of the land plot (GPZU): the documents were issued to the developer of Center-Invest JSC at the time when he was not the owner of the land plot put on cadastral records, says a source familiar with the material of the checks...

In the submission of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office dated 08/19/2020, it is said that the law allows the preparation of a GPZU in the absence of a land plot standing on the cadastre - then it is prepared on the basis of a land survey project. But this is permissible only if the construction is carried out within the framework of the targeted investment program of the city of Moscow or under the program for the renovation of the housing stock in the city of Moscow. However, as established by the prosecutor's office, the RC "Festival Park-2" does not fall into any of these categories.

At the same time, the prosecutor's office disputes the issuance of a lease agreement on the basis of which a building permit was issued. An initiative group of defenders of Berezovaya Alley, who returned from a personal reception with the prosecutor, today reports: the claim has already been registered in the Arbitration Court. The materials turned out to be voluminous - it took several days to hem them in and certify them for the court.

The paradox is that, in spite of the de facto open criminal prosecution of officials in charge of the construction site, she lived and lives her stormy life.

On the day the criminal case was initiated, workers cut down 307 trees on Berezovaya Alley. The green zone (park above the Aksininsky brook) with an area of 8.32 hectares has actually been assigned the status of a "natural complex" and the regime of urban planning activities No. 2, which prohibits the laying of new communications. But due to the approval of the Moskomarkhitektura works that go beyond the building spot, the Moscow Department of Natural Resources also issued a felling ticket for the alley zone without any problems.

The prosecutor's office informs about the initiated check on the fact of cutting down hundreds of trees: "In addition, the Moscow prosecutor's office organized a check on information posted on the Internet about illegal cutting of trees." But there are no results on this check yet, the initiative group reports.

By the end of August, Berezovaya Alley had turned into a real "battle zone". More than a thousand people united in a telegram group to protect the alley and coordinate actions.

Chronicle of resistance:

From July 10, residents begin to be on duty around the clock at the gates of the construction site. Until the end of August, the defenders of the alley manage to block construction equipment. Police officers agree with the people that without the approval of the traffic management project (TRA), construction equipment cannot unauthorizedly move around the residential area. The equipment is wrapped up, the construction company is fined.

On August 19, the developer seizes a part of the Berezovaya Alley for communications and encloses it with a fence, to which he puts the chopovites. Night after night, when the private guards leave the workplace, the "guerrilla movement" knocks down the fence, bites the wire that holds the sections together, and pulls the fence apart.

On August 27, the police sided with the private security company and for the first time brought a paddy wagon to the construction site. Residents are pushed away so workers can dig trenches without hindrance. On the same day, the Moscow Prosecutor's Office recognizes the land lease agreement on the basis of which the building permit was issued and informs about the intention to file a lawsuit demanding the termination of the lease agreement (residents themselves cannot act as appropriate plaintiffs in court to challenge the issuance of a permit documentation).

On September 2, at five in the morning, the developer seizes another part of the alley - at the house number 16 on the street. Belomorskaya. The activists on duty call the police to check the work order. By 10.00 in the morning, residents are decisively demanding active action from the district police officer, in response to this request, an outfit arrives. Dozens of residents by this time propped up the fence with their backs. The police are pushing back people for the sake of their own safety. Residents, losing patience, demolish the fence. The police react instantly, starting to arrest people. Most of the men are snatched out of the crowd, screwed up and taken to the police van. During the scuffle, the policeman pushes the woman, she falls and hits the curb - in the hospital they fix a broken arm and a bruised knee. People are chanting "Let go!" and "Shame!" and for more than an hour the car with the detainees was not allowed to leave. While clearing the way for the paddy wagon, the police drop another woman onto the asphalt. From the crowd of residents at the fence, the police aimingly snatch one of the activists, the residents are trying to beat her off, at this time the workers are quickly restoring the fence. On the detainees, protocols were drawn up according to the "people's" 20.2. Administrative Code of the Russian Federation - Violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picketing.

"We are not in favor of stopping the construction, we are for it to be carried out according to the originally conceived project. Three residential buildings and a minimum social infrastructure, as promised: a kindergarten, a fitness center. We understand that this area has been planned for housing for many years. But why, instead of the initial plan, we again get a stone jungle of 24-35 floors? And why is our right to a healthy environment being neglected, tearing up natural zones, cutting down hundreds of trees? And I will answer: this is the last project of "Center-Invest" in our area, then the developer will leave here forever, and after that the grass will not grow, if only the pockets are fuller”, - the deputy comments.

Novye Izvestia sent a journalistic request to the developer of Center-Invest JSC, in which they asked him to comment on the violations that led to the criminal case. At the time of publication, no response was received from the company.