18 August 2010, 18:00
In Georgia, two detainees go on hunger strike demanding release of political prisoners
On August 17, in the Gdlan isolation facility in Tbilisi, Melor Vachnadze, founder of youth social movement "Shemogviertdi" (Join Us), announced a protest hunger strike. Today, Vakhtang Maisaya, convicted for espionage, has joined him.
As reported by Levan Chitadze, head of the youth movement "Ara" (No), Messrs Vachnadze and Maisaya demand that the authorities of Georgia release the prisoners, detained on political and religious motives. Besides, they demand access of local NGOs to jails for monitoring.
According to Mr Chitadze, authorities of Georgia have time till September to perform the hunger-strikers' demands; otherwise, the oppositional activist threatened to start radical protest actions at administrative buildings, the IA "News-Georgia" reports.
The reaction of authorities of Georgia to this action is unknown.
