12 May 2011, 20:00
Solicitors in Tbilisi are starting a hunger strike of protest
Georgian solicitors are starting a hunger strike in front of the Parliament of the country. The goal of the action is protection of their professional rights. The notification was submitted to Mayor's office on May, 11, and the hunger strike will start on May, 17.
The solicitors will be on the strike in front of the Parliament for five days in a non-stop regime, Shalva Khachapuridze, participant of the action, declared.
"By means of this action we want to attract the attention of international community and demonstrate the absence of freedom in Georgia. The Georgian solicitors' hunger strike will be unprecedented on a world scale. We demand independence of judicial power", "Novosti-Georgia" quotes the solicitor.
At the first stage, 30 solicitors will take part in the action. Khachapuridze hopes that later on other colleagues will join them, "Georgia-Online" reports.
Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that in May, 2010, solicitors held a sitting action of protest near the Georgian Parliament. The participants demanded introduction of changes to electoral legislation. The action was suppressed by the police then.
In April, 2011, the solicitors also made an attempt of a hunger strike near the Georgian Stationery Office. It was a one-day action and the participants demanded forming a "legitimate and fair court" in Georgia.
