When Pavel Divakov, a member of UnMode who works as a social worker in Minsk, Belarus, came on duty, he saw a man. He was sitting on the steps, next to the social assistance office, with his head in his hands.
Deportation and deprivation of rights
After seeing Pavel, the man who introduced himself as Anatoly told the story of why he was here. According to Anatoly, he was deported by the Russian authorities from the city of Orenburg. Since he has nowhere to live in Minsk, he has already spent several days at the railway station. He is a Belarusian, a Minsk resident, but the apartment where he lived before moving to Orenburg belonged to his brother, who recently sold it and does not want to have any more business with Anatoly. He had no belongings, only a Belarusian passport.
Pavel Divakov
The situation with the deportation was as follows: a few years ago, Anatoly went to his grandmother in Orenburg to look after and help her. While he was in Orenburg, he met a girl, they fell in love and began to live together. After some time, they had a child. My grandmother died at that time. Anatoly sold her small apartment and issued a mortgage for a larger apartment. At the same time, they lived in a civil marriage, his wife did not work, and he alone earned both for mortgage repayment and for the life of a family with a child.
Anatoly earned money by doing repairs in Orenburg. One day he accepted a new order, took money for consumables and made a purchase. However, the customer did not like what he did, and she accused him of stealing money. She wrote a statement to the police, and under the article “fraud” Anatoly was soon sentenced to six months. According to Russian law, if a foreign citizen receives a criminal conviction, he must be deported from Russia with a ban on entering the country for three years, which happened.
The situation could have been helped by an official marriage, but since Anatoly lived in a civil marriage, it did not work. In order for Anatoly not to sit in prison for six months, his civil wife paid for his plane, and he was taken from the pre-trial detention center, without even letting him see the child, from Orenburg to Moscow, and from there immediately to Minsk, at the place of his citizenship.
The struggle for the right to be with family
The main question that Anatoly asked Pavel Divakov is where you can go to get temporary housing and not live at the train station. In response, Pavel referred Anatoly to a social housing consultant who deals with such issues. The next day Anatoly returned with the same question. They didn’t help him with solving this issue, but they gave him cookies and for some reason pasta, which, in fact, a homeless person still had nowhere and nothing to cook in.
Pavel started calling all the available centers, flophouses and shelters for the homeless. But everywhere there was the same answer – there are no places. Showing mercy, Pavel took Anatoly to his home. It was decided to proceed as follows – to start collecting money for tickets to return to Orenburg and find people who can help Anatoly with solving social and legal issues upon arrival at the place. Due to the fact that Anatoly was not listed in the databases of deported persons, he could enter back to Russia.
Anatoly and Svetlana Arshavskaya
Anatoly ended up staying with Pavel for a week and a half while the money was being collected. Finally, thanks to the help and support of many people, he managed to buy a ticket to Moscow, and from there to Orenburg. The second issue – social and legal support on the spot – was resolved on the very first day. The organization “Everyone’s Right” works in Orenburg, and its director Svetlana Arshavskaya, also a member of UnMode, was the first to learn about this situation from Pavel and offered her help.
To date, Anatoly has arrived and is already in Orenburg with his family. Svetlana Arshavskaya helps and advises him on a variety of issues, and also organizes legal assistance for him. Money is also being collected for a lawyer, since this is paid assistance. Anatoly’s chances of winning the appeal are high. In any case, there are people next to him who are ready to support him and go with him until this problem is solved.