Litigation on indigenous people of Sochi – Shapsugs is 1 year old
The representative, in his turn, prepared again the papers necessary for consideration of the case, and submitted them to the office of the Sochi city central district court. “I have not been yet informed when the new consideration of the will be held, – he said to “Caucasian unit” correspondent. – But I hope it will take place in the end of the current month”.
Earlier the applicants were refused in consideration of their cases according to the pretext that in the applications the question was about the private claims concerned the land taxes for individual sites. Therefore the judge Sergey Martynenko (Sochi city central district court) found that they should not speak about the rights of the small indigenous people as a whole.
“In the application, – it was spoken in the received cassation definition, – they stated the question on contest of inactivity of the Sochi city assembly in connection with non receipt of any official reply on the written claim application, non fixing in the charter of the municipal formation obligatory rules about organization of local self-management in view of the compact residing of the small indigenous people – Shapsugs – in the territory of the city of Sochi”.
“The application contains requirements about recognition illegal and partially invalid the Rules about the land tax adopted by the decision of Sochi city assembly from 21.11.2005, and making reliability on Sochi city assembly the duty on modification and addition into the Rules about the land tax concerned releasing from the taxation the physical persons representatives of the small indigenous people of Krasnodar Region of Russian Federation – Shapsugs, as well as the communities of this people – relating to the land sites used for preservation and development of their traditional ways of living, managing and crafts”, – the Krasnodar regional court explained.
“Besides in the application it was specified about making Sochi city assembly to use the right of legislative initiative in the Legislative Assembly of Krasnodar Region with the offers on modification and additions in the Charter of Krasnodar Region”, – it was also stated in the cassation definition.
Therefore the Judicial board on civil cases of the Krasnodar regional court cancels the definition of Sochi Central regional court from October 27, 2006 and sends the materials under the applications Zaurbek Shu in the interests of Kharet Tesheva and Islam Napso for its new consideration to the same court.
Let’s note, the case about Shapsugs’ rights was initiated not on October 27, as about it was said in definition, and on October 17, when the application was submitted. From that term it was exposed to red tape. And it had been started a little bit earlier.
On May 18, 2006 Inverbiy Kobzh addressed with that question to the Sochi city major Victor Kolodiazhny. When he received the negative reply, on July 25 of the same year Inverbiy Kobzh, Kharet Tesheva and Islam Napso addressed with the letter to the deputies of Sochi city assembly. In two days Kharet Tesheva and Islam Napso wrote a complaint to the Interregional inspection of the Federal tax service of Russia # 7 on Krasnodar Region.
From all the mentioned instances the applicants received refusals. Only the people’s deputies have not replied and have not explained their silence in any way so far.
On September 14, 2006 Kharet Tesheva and Islam Napso submitted applications to Lazarevsky district court of Sochi “About contest of inactivity of the body of the local self-management and recognition partially invalid the normative act of the body of the local self-management”.
On October 17, 2006 they were compelled to re-submit their applications to Sochi central district court, as the former instance had refused to consider their case.
On November 6, 2006 they submitted cassation complaints to the official definitions of Sochi central district court to the Judicial board on civil cases of the Krasnodar regional court.
On March 30, 2007 Rustam Tkhagushev submitted an application to the Tuapse town court “About recognition inappropriate the Charter of the municipal formation “The town of Tuapse” to the federal legislation”.
On April 13, 2007 a group of citizens (Tesheva, Napso, Tkhagushev and Husht) send a letter to the public prosecutor of Krasnodar Region with request to check carefully up the reasons for discrepancy of the Charters of the municipal educations “The city Sochi”, “The town of Tuapse” and “Tuapsinsky area” to the federal legislation and in case of conformation of that discrepancy – to undertake all the necessary measures for resolution of the existing problem.
On April 19, 2007 Murat Husht submitted an application to Tuapsinsky area court “About recognition inappropriate the Charter of the municipal formation “The town of Tuapse” to the federal legislation”.
This uncompleted list of inquiries, courts, formal replies could be easily continued in the chronological order till nowadays.
The question was one of the basic on the VI (report-elective) congress of the Public parliament-Khase of the Black sea Shapsugs-Adygs taken place in one Tuapse town on April 30, 2006. At it Zaurbek Shu acted as a delegate. These are some abstracts from his report there:
“That fact that today we talk over this Law, is in some way symbolical. I shall allow myself to remind that today we can commemorate its anniversary – 8 years ago on April 30, 1999 the Federal law “About guarantees of the rights of the small indigenous peoples of Russian Federation” was passed. However, as you know, any of the privileges of the discussed Law had not been fixed after Shapsugs in Krasnodar Region so far”.
“Now representatives of the small indigenous peoples compactly live in 35 subjects of Russian Federation. For today I have analyzed the regional legislation of 23 subjects. Those are the Charters (or Constitution) and other regional legal acts. The facts are next: in 22 subjects of Russian Federation (!) norms of the specified law are realized in full way, and in the 23rd subject – Krasnodar Region – it was not made anything for its reserving. The analysis of the conditions in this sphere will be continued, but I assume that the specified law, as against Krasnodar Region, is wholly realized in the other regions of Russian Federation, too”.
One of the decisions of the congress was convocation of an extraordinary session in the present autumn, if to this time there were no changes in the problem of protection of Shapsugs’ rights stipulated by the law.
The information:
By the end of the XVIII century in Shapsugia, as well as in the nearest lands – Natuhai, Ubyhia and Abadzehia “the exile of princes and noblemen” took place. So the event was mentioned in folklore tales. The Russian sources of the times of the Russian-Caucasian war named those sub-ethnoses “democratic tribes”, and their leaders – “foremen”.
The changes in the public order caused demographic growth. According to different researchers of the past, for 30 years of the XIX century quantity of Shapsugs was from 300 up to 500 thousand people.
Those changes also caused development of manufacture. That could be proved till now by existence of the remained in the mountains of the Western Caucasus Circassian gardens, fruitful even today. Under descriptions of the contemporaries, in the 30s the XIX century there were not uncultivated lands in those territories, the gardens grew in the woods lasting for tens kilometers, and incorporating with each other.
Description of that phenomenon was researched in the two-volume book “Circassian Gardens” written by the modern Adygeyan scientist-historian Samir Hotko, who had collected the most interesting works on the theme.
The Shapsugian national area with its administrative centre in Tuapse town was formed in 1925. It was situated partly on the territory of Big Sochi, partly – in Tuapsinsky area. To the moment of the area’s creation Shapsugs were about 3,4 thousand people.
The area (with its administrative centre in Lazarevsky settlement) was liquidated part by part. Tuapsinsky part – two years earlier. The complete abolition took place in 1945. During that abolition (without Tuapsinsky part) Shapsugs were about 4 thousand people.
On December 1, 1990 I the congress of the Black sea Adygs (Shapsugs) adopted “Declaration on formation of Shapsugian national area”.
On July 15, 1992 the Presidium of the Supreme Body of Russian Federation made the decision “About creation of Shapsugian national area in the structure of Krasnodar Region”. Within the next years the authority did not undertake any measures on implementation of that decision.
On April 30, 1999 the Federal law “About guarantees of the rights of the small indigenous peoples of Russian Federation” was adopted.
On March 24, 2000 Shapsugs were included in “Uniform list of the small indigenous peoples of Russian Federation”.
Nowadays in the territories of Tuapsinsky area and Big Sochi there are 12 settlements of Shapsugs. On the approximate data, in them about 10 thousand Shapsugs live.
The Soviet and a part of the post-Soviet periods of the history of Shapsugia are described in the book “Shapsugia – The Pain of Mine” written by the Sochi historian Tamara Polovinkina.
NatPress
