On 28 July, the Ostankinskiy District Court of Moscow granted a judgment to an orphan girl and held that she must be provided with housing from the specialised residential fund of Moscow. That was the result of the High Commissioner’s request sent to the Judicial Chamber on Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court has reversed previous judgments in the case and has forwarded the case to the court of the first instance.

The 18-year-old girl, orphaned in early age, was under guardianship of a Moscow citizen and lived in her apartment. The apartment in one of the villages in Ryazan Region, which belonged to her decedent mother, was destroyed by fire in 2012 and the house was demolished.

So, by her 18 the girl was also left without housing.However, the State Interdepartmental Commission on Housing Problems of Orphans and Children Left Without Parental Care refused to give her an apartment having reasoned that Moscow was not her residency. Recourse to a court had no effect.

In the petition to the Judicial Chamber on Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation the High Commissioner fairly pointed out that registration of residency as well as the lack of it cannot be the reason for restricting rights and freedoms of Russian citizens. The residency is a place where citizen lives permanently or mainly.

Considering the fact that the claimant indeed lived with her guardian in Moscow and the fact that the early-orphaned girl did not have any other place to live, the Supreme Court has reversed previous judgments in the case, while the new court has satisfied her claim.