Court orders to write off debts of Chechen residents for fear of mass protests

In accordance with the court decision, the "Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Grozny" Company is to write off more than nine billion roubles from debtors. Attempts to secure payments of debts created social tensions, the Prosecutor's Office for Chechnya reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in November 2017, residents of Grozny complained about disconnections from gas supply for debts. In October 2018, Ramzan Kadyrov dismissed four prefects of Grozny for failing to collect gas and electricity debts from citizens.

The Chechen Prosecutor's Office has appealed to the court to oblige the "Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Grozny" Company to write off the "residents' debts with no chances to be recovered," that is more than nine billion roubles. In its report, the Chechen Prosecutor's Office explains that the statute of limitations for the above debts has expired.

"Meanwhile, the actions of the defendant in mass presentation of claims for payments of the debts, which have actually no chances to be recovered, created social tensions in society and could result in protest actions of the population," the Chechen Prosecutor's Office believes.

The Zavodskoy District Court of Grozny granted the lawsuit, the Chechen Prosecutor's Office reported on its website on January 16.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 17, 2019 at 03:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.