Ghosts of Sochi

2014-12-10

SOCHI - Seven years under construction at a reported cost of over 40 billion euros, 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-supported cross-border investigation by journalists from the UK, Romania's theblacksea.eu and Russia's Novaya Gazeta. It reveals how bad oversight of subcontractors in Sochi created a climate of corruption and woeful safety practices, leading to the deaths of hundreds of undocumented migrants.

Today, 100,000 migrants are building another major sports project for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, while new laws fail to give the workers the rights they deserve.

Team members

Craig Shaw

Craig Shaw is a British journalist and editor.

Lina Vdovîi

Lina Vdovîi is a writer, journalist, and producer from the Republic of Moldova, now based in Romania.

Roman Anin

Roman Anin is an award-winning Russian journalist.

Supported

€8,300 allocated on 20/12/2013

ECB/2013/143

Grant

European Cross-border Grants

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