South-Ossetian authorities express concern about hunger strike of its citizens in Georgian prison

The office of the presidential envoy of South Ossetia for the issues of the post-conflict settlement has turned to the observation mission of the European Union in Georgia asking the observers to clarify the health status of its three citizens, who are holding hunger strike together with prisoners of Gldani Prison.

According to the official Tskhinvali, three citizens of South Ossetia – Georgy Zasseev, Georgy Valiev and Iosif Kochiev – on January 26 joined 50 other prisoners of Gldani Prison No. 8 in Georgia in their endless hunger strike, demanding to revise their verdicts and objectively reconsider their cases.

As reported by Lyudmila Usovich, on February 8, she managed to talk with her son Georgy Zasseev by phone. He said that the hunger-striking prisoners would not stop the protest until the authorities meet their demands, the "Ossetian Radio and Television" reports.

She added that officials of Georgian law enforcement bodies had already met the hunger-strikers and promised to fulfil their demands.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 18, 2012, the Georgian MIA reported facts of torture of prisoners in Gldani Prison No. 8. As a result of the scandal, on September 20, the then Georgia's Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaya resigned; and on September 22, employees of Gldani Prison were dismissed.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.