Georgian prisoners demand review of their sentences
By Nazrin Gadimova
Prisoners serving sentences in the Georgian prison No.14 in Geguti have issued a statement addressed to the Georgian prime minister, the parliament speaker and NGOs.
In the statement, signed by about 1,300 prisoners, the convicts demand review of their cases, effective work of the parole commission, as well as abolition of an article of the Criminal Code regarding formation of illegal armed groups.
Similar demands were put forward by inmates of the prison No.17 in the capital Tbilisi, where about 50 prisoners have been on a hunger strike for the ninth straight day.
Earlier, on July 23, a hunger strike started at a prison in Rustavi, Georgia. The prisoners put forward a concrete term and an ultimatum, with two participants of the protest sowing up their mouths in defiance.
Also, a hunger strike was launched in prison No. 15 located in the Georgian village of Ksani on July 25. It involves six prisoners and all of them also require a review of their cases, according to the ministry of corrections.
The prisoners claim that they are being wrongfully incarcerated.
Representatives of the Georgian Public Defender's Office met with the starving prisoners on July 25.
The prisoners also demand a meeting with members of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights.