Ghosts of Sochi

2014-12-10

Seven years under construction at a reputed cost of over 40 billion Euro, the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia are the most expensive sporting event in history. But the Games also had a human cost.

On 11 September 2013, 22-year old Moldovan, Mihai Cernisov, was electrocuted while working on the Fisht Stadium construction site in Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Mihai was an illegal migrant hired by a local company contracted by RZDstroy, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned giant Russian Railways.

Ghosts of Sochi is a Journalismfund.eu-supported cross-border investigation by journalists from the UK, Romania's theblacksea.eu and Novaya Gazeta in Russia, reveals how bad oversight of subcontractors in Sochi created a climate of corruption and woeful safety practices, causing hundreds of undocumented migrants to die.

Today, 100,000s of migrants build another grand sporting project for the World Cup in Russia in 2018, while new laws fail to bring the workers the rights they deserve.

Team members

Craig Shaw

Craig Shaw is a British journalist and editor of The Black sea Project.

Lina Vdovîi

Lina Vdovîi is a Moldovan-born journalist based in Romania.

Roman Anin

Roman Anin is an award-winning Russian journalist.

Supported

Grant of € 8.300, allocated on 20/12/2013

2013/143

Grant

European Cross-border Grants

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