A group of students of Tbilisi Technological University reports kidnapping

A group of students of Tbilisi Technological University appealed to Georgy Tugushi, Ombudsman of Georgia, complaining of violence that followed their hunger strike in the administrative building of the University.

According to the statement they submitted to Ombudsman, at midday of October, 26, three students who were on a hunger strike were kidnapped from Tbilisi Technological University and carried away to Mtskheta. Not far from Mtskheta the abductors dropped them off the car after which the three young people had to go back home on foot.

The abduction took place about three hours after eight students of the Technological University started an action of protest near the Chancellor's office in the administrative building in Georgy Saakadze square. They unfolded self-made posters with a slogan "Listen to the students!" in the corridor.

Their major demand was to arrange a meeting with Archil Prangishvili, Chancellor of the University. Alexander Kobaidze, Chairman of Association of Independent Students, explained the reasons for protest to the journalists present at the action: "Victimization of dissenters is going on as well as differentiation between the privileged students and the outcast, the University's budget is non-transparent, unfair system of scholarship distribution is under strict control".

"Accountability of the administration to the students' community is out of the question. We are absolutely unaware of what our tuition fee is spent on. The administration is keeping out of touch with action groups of students, the Chancellor's office is in fact distant from them", Kobaidze said.

He added that the students had repeatedly appealed to the Chancellor in order to solve these problems. "However the situation did not improve but became even worse. That is why we demand meeting with the Chancellor to discuss the present-day problems together. As the case stands, we, students, decided to go on with the hunger strike until the Chancellor satisfies the claim of meeting with us", Alexander Kobaidze declared.

While the students were holding the picket the Chancellor held a press conference for Georgian mass media in his office. At the conference Archil Prangishvili declared that the budget of the University was quite transparent.

"All comers may familiarize themselves with the budget at the official web-site of the University", Archil Prangishvili continued.

Besides, according to the Chancellor, there have already been two meetings with the students who came out on Alexander Kobaidze's initiative during which the students themselves got disappointed with the organizers of the actions.

"The students themselves disagreed with those who brought them. They said to them openly: "You have deceived us", Archil Prangishvili said at the press conference.

However, he was at once interrupted by the students who burst into the office. "This information in untrue, I speak responsibly", a student declared addressing the journalists.

After the press conference three students told the journalists that they were starting an open-ended hunger strike, however at 14:00 there was already none of them near the Chancellor's office.

The personnel of the University departmental security service told the journalists that the students left yet at 13:00.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent's attempts to contact Alexander Kobaidze and other students to find out why they stopped their strike failed for they were inaccessible on the mobiles.

Only at 20:00 the correspondent managed to contact Ivane Meparishvili, activist of Association of Independent Students, who said that the hunger strike was suppressed by force by some unknown people who came to the University.

"As soon as the journalists left some strangers approached us and forced us out of the University. In the courtyard they put us into a car and carried us out of town, somewhere near Mtskheta (about 50 km distance from Tbilisi). On the way they threatened us and demanded to stop our activities of opposition to the management of the University. They took our mobiles away from us yet in the University building and left them in the teaching department, so we had to cover the way from Mtskheta to Tbilisi on foot", Ivane Meparishvili said.

According to the students, the abductors were wearing civilian attire however they could see guns in holsters on their belts which made the students think the men were members of the top brass.

The students have not yet submitted statements of their abduction to law enforcement bodies. They are currently consulting members of non-governmental organizations "Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia".

Yet in the evening of October, 26, Chancellor Archil Prangishvili made a statement for mass media that he had no idea of the students' abduction. According to him, when he went out of his office there were already no students there. The personnel of the University security service also provide no comments on the reason why they let people equipped with firearms into the building.