Esmiralda Geidarova, 30 years old, was born in Baku (the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic). From her childhood she suffers from a serious form of epilepsy. She is a disabled person. Her character is not built up. She perceives the world as a child. She is also extremely irresponsible. She resembles a girl of 18 years old.
In 1990 at the time of the Armenian pogroms Esmiralda and her mother, who was of Armenian origin, fled Baku and came to Moscow. Her father, an Azerbaijani, stayed in Baku, where he lived until recently.
In 1990 Esmiralda and her mother obtained their refugee certificates and were lodged in the Zarya hotel in Moscow. In 1993 Esmiralda Geidarova gave birth to a daughter (father was unknown) and got a single mother certificate. The same year Esmiralda's mother died.
In 1996 the Federal Migration Service (FMS) allotted a flat for Geidarova somewhere outside Moscow (in Vyaz'ma or Tver'), but Esmiralda did not go to this town since she was pregnant again. Her son was born in 1997.
In December 1997 Esmiralda's elderly father came to her from Baku. From her childhood he was officially registered as her guardian. Esmiralda's father induced his daughter to come back to Baku. Before departure Esmiralda came to the Civil Assistance Committee to say good bye. The Committee members had been helping Esmiralda since 1990. They tried to explain to her that she must not go to Baku, that situation in Azerbaijan was very serious, that her life and that of her children would be endangered. But Esmiralda disregarded this concerns. She said she decided to leave because of bad relations with the hotel neighbors, who all were Armenian from Baku. They teased her and since she was not pure Armenian, called her "Persian woman". Once they have even beaten her. She did not want to complain and therefore she would go home with her father.
4 months later Esmiralda Geidarova, her children and father had to leave Baku. Esmiralda was denied a disability pension, her children were beaten mercilessly outdoors. Her father and she were threatened with murder if they did not vacate their flat. So they had to sell at a loss the flat and all their belongings. With only $3000 the four of them came back to Moscow. Esmiralda kept her refugee certificate as well as the Moscow living permit. But her room in the hotel was closed and sealed up. Instead of consulting with the Civil Assistance Committee, Geidarova went to the Migration Service to get help in the hotel lodging. Here she showed her passport with the stamp of registration (propiska) in Baku in 1998.
In spite of the registration in Baku being canceled, Moscow Migration Service decided that Geidarova "on her free will settled down in the state she left earlier for fear of persecution; therefore she forfeited her right to be a refugee." The Federal Migration Service seconded this solution. All attempts to help the disabled woman with two little children yeilded nothing. The Federal Migration Service officials claimed this story was "a dreadful trickery" and refused to restore Esmiralda's refugee status.
Currently, the family of two disabled persons (Esmiralda and her father)and two children has no means of subsistence at all. They receive no pensions, no children benefits, they cannot buy medicines. Every day Esmiralda has an attack of epilepsy. They have nearly exhausted all the proceeds for the Baku flat.
There are two ways to help this family. The best option is to help them move to any country, where they can get real medical care. The other one is to help them to buy a cheap flat somewhere in central Russia. Such a flat costs about $10000. If they have a flat, they will get their living permits and then, and only then, medical care.
Svetlana Gannushkina, Co-chairman, Civil Assistance Committee "Memorial" Human Rights Center , Moscow City Charitable Council
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