"Donbass" veterans arrested in Georgia go on hunger strike

The six citizens of Ukraine and a citizen of Georgia, detained in Tbilisi during a special operation, have gone on a hunger strike in protest against the charges of illegal acquisition and possession of weapons, their advocate has announced.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 2, during a special operation held in Tbilisi, six citizens of Ukraine and a citizen of Georgia were detained; during a search weapons and ammunition were seized from them. According to investigators, all the detainees are fighters of the "Donbass", a Ukrainian battalion of volunteers. On December 4, the court decided to place them into custody.

One of them announced a hunger strike back on December 3, their advocate, Giorgi Rostomashvili, has reported. "I asked him to stop the hunger strike; and I thought that he had obeyed me; but today, it turned out that all of them are on a hunger strike," the RIA "Novosti" quotes the advocate as saying.

The hunger-strikers disagree with the accusations put forward against them, the "Interfax" has reported today referring to Mr Rostomashvili.

Semyon Semenchenko, a former commander of the "Donbass" battalion, now an MP of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, has confirmed that in 2014-2016, all the defendants fought as members of this unit.

Semenchenko asserts that all the seven defendants came to Georgia to visit their relatives.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 4, 2018 at 07:44 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.