Kazakhstan: National Security Committee throws people into the street

In Almaty, the confrontation between the special services and residents of houses, located next to the head office of the National Security Committee, continues.

The conflict between pensioners and the special services began in the fall of last year. Then, by decision of the city hall, several houses, which were located next to the building of the National Security Committee, were declared dilapidated and assigned for demolition. After the demolition, the land was supposed to go to the National Security Committee, which decided to expand its territory and build a new administrative building for itself.

Three two-storey brick houses (No. 279, 279A and 279B), located at the intersection of Bayzakov street and Abai avenue, were determined for demolition.

Residents of 39 apartments, and these are mostly single pensioners, in February 2020, the Land Relations Department of the city hall of Almaty announced that their houses were being demolished for state needs. At the same time, it turned out that the demolition of houses will be financed from the budget of Almaty, although the National Security Committee has its own rather solid budget.

Residents of three houses organized protest actions, went on a hunger strike, but everything was useless.

Snezhana Bakhytzhanova still lives in the house No. 279.

“I still live here!” Snezhana says in her open video message to the President of the country. “Please, help! Stop this arbitrariness! We no longer have the strength to resist this lawlessness. We accepted the fact that our houses would allegedly be taken for state needs, and we were ready to move out.

According to Bakhytzhanova, the compensation for housing was given scanty – about $ 40.5 thousand for a two-room apartment of ​​62 square meters.

“A bailiff came to us and literally threw us into the street,” the woman says with tears. “My husband of pre-retirement age, my minor child and I… we are simply thrown into the street. I ask you to stop this chaos. Nobody can help us. You are the only person in Kazakhstan who can influence this situation. I invested all the money that I had in this apartment, because I wasn’t going to move anywhere. Our house is solid, earthquake-resistant, has a bomb shelter. I beg you to influence the mayor’s office of Almaty and the Land Relations Department. Please, save us from this arbitrariness!”

For comparison: the average cost of 1 square meter of housing in Almaty is $ 1170.

In the area, where the National Security Committee is located, the price per 1 square meter varies between $ 1320 and $ 1670.

That is, the market value of Bakhytzhanova’s apartment should be approximately $ 81,820–$ 103,540.

The National Security Committee pays for these apartments twice less than the minimum price.