Moscow's mayor reiterated on Saturday that court rulings on the demolition of houses in a disputed village on the banks of the Moskva River were legal and expressed hope that the country's top prosecutors would confirm that.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called a halt on Friday to the controversial demolition in the Rechnik village and urged Moscow housing authorities to respect the rights of local landowners.
The Kremlin also demanded that the Prosecutor General's Office check the legality of court decisions authorizing the demolition.
"I am sure that the Prosecutor General's Office will uphold the legality of court rulings, since every court decision taken on Rechnik is quite obvious," Yury Luzhkov said.
He pledged that housing officials would halt bulldozing Rechnik lands while court decisions were being checked and said that further action would depend on the prosecutors' conclusion.
The Moscow city administration has decreed that a 20-hectare town park will be created on the land, but residents suspect that the prime real estate will be sold to developers to create a luxury residential compound.
On Thursday, the residents of Rechnik filed a suit against Luzhkov, demanding the court to order him to pay 100 billion rubles ($3.3 billion) as compensation for moral and material damage they had suffered.
MOSCOW, February 6 (RIA Novosti)
