Gigantism, corruption, low wages  make the Winter Olympics ten days before its commencement negative headlines. Construction workers complain of rotten conditions. IOC boss Thomas Bach still sees everything in a good way.

“Hot. Cool. Yours.” is the slogan of the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, beginning in one and a half weeks. It can also be applied to the abuses that take advance their shadow on the competitions. If you want to estimate about the cost of these games, this fast is like a guessing game, you can change from “Cool” to “Hot” to a sum grope: cold, cold, warm, warmer, warmer, hot!

51 billion dollars is considered by experts to be as realistic as colossal sum. Up to 30 billion of which will be seeped in companies and organizations in which friend of President Vladimir Putin are involved. Just for a majority of up to 100,000 construction workers seemed no more money to have been left, the “Yours” fell by the wayside.

And it does not seem to be the one or the other is not paid by the Olympic organizers bill, but specific and systematic deception of the workers.

Sochi Winter Olympic Games:”Many have no employment contracts”

“It a system behind it ,” Simonov Semejon complains in the broadcast on Monday night WDR program ” Inside Sport ” . The representative of the human rights organization Memorial said: ” 90 percent of all workers of the Olympic buildings of Sochi have either not received their wages or only in parts with their work , Olympia was only possible, but they were not paid for it . . ”

He had helped in Sochi 1500 workers , says Simonov , especially migrant workers . “Many of these people have no employment contracts , in some cases, not even a work permit or registration papers . Them not infrequently take the employer simply from existing documents ,” Simonov described the procedure in Sochi in October at tagesschau.de . He estimates that instead of the official 17,000 guest workers around three times as many assistants had come from abroad , mainly from Central Asia.

Thither , more precisely, to Tajikistan , Florian Bauer went on , sports ARD political reporter, responsible for the “Sport Inside” report. Had the workers been defrauded do not want to speak publicly for fear of the organizers , they are now confirmed the exploitation. Foreman Cholip Junusow called peasant figures: ” They did not get 10,000 euros salary ,” says Bauer , Junusow himself speaks of ” modern slavery ” . They would have had no day off , there was no medical care : “If you were sick , that was your problem.”

Sochi Winter Olympic Games:Human Rights Watch criticized conditions for a long time

In early January the “Tagesspiegel” had the example of the worker Mardiros Demertschan then reported how got rid of workers again later. The unskilled construction workers was recruited with an above average wage of the equivalent of around 33 euros a day, but he also should hardly get money : Regularly smaller sums were paid , apparently a stalling tactic. The employer announced Demertschan under flimsy reasons , a low compensation was promised , then they threw him against theft – the worker found himself at a police station again . There one had coerced him to confess .

Back in February of last year , Human Rights Watch drew attention to the grievances on the sites of Sochi, which relate primarily to the foreign workers. However, it was then nothing happens, even if IOC President Thomas Bach on Monday against the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ” said: “We are with Human Rights Watch in this question always in contact and take such questions related to Olympia on . ”

Just recently there was a meeting between Russian Deputy Prime Minister and the Russian ombudsman for human rights due to an IOC initiative. ” As a result, an agreement was reached that short 277 million rubles ( 6.1 million euros ) are nachbezahlt in wages ,” said Bach . When and how the withdrawal in the mostly non-registered guest workers from Sochi, many of whom also have a bank account , to be carried out , the IOC ARD , however, could not communicate on demand.

Barbara Lochbihler, chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the European Parliament, criticized Bach and Co. sharp:.. “The IOC must not just continue with business as usual One would have to react much earlier, it is now absolutely necessary that the IOC, the Russian government and the show individual company responsibility. ”

For this kind discussions Bach are “a positive effect of the games,” he said in the “FAZ” interview. In addition, the IOC boss stated: “The athletes will also get in Sochi excellent conditions.”

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