There are 12 hunger-strikers in Lermontov now

Starting from today, because of poor health state of the hunger-strikers in the city of Lermontov, doctors will examine them three times a day. The protesters do not rule out that the prosecutor's office could tell that they were taking food by mistake. Today the number of the participants of the action has increased from 10 to 12 persons.

The main demands of the protesters include cancellation of the elections to the city council appointed for March 4 and inquiry into the actions of the city election commission, which had refused to register 32 candidates out of 122 applicants. The hunger-strikers claim that the Lermontov city council was deliberately dismissed. Today it became known that one of the protesters needed doctor's help. Medics fear for the health of a few other elderly participants of the protest.

The hunger-strikers told doctors that they still held, but they were often concerned about headaches and constant fatigue.

During the day, people come to see the hunger-strikers. Currently, 12 city residents are already on hunger strike, 11 of them were candidates for the City Council, says the statement posted on the public-information website of Lermontov.

According to the protester Vladimir Grigoriev, the prosecutor's office could disseminate information that they take meals by mistake.

"The information of the source from the prosecutor's office that we had been allegedly seen with sandwiches is not true," said Grigoriev, as quoted by the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta".

The protest action was launched on February 21, after the City Court of Lermontov failed to consider the complaints about the refusal to register several candidates for the City Council of the fifth convocation to be held March 4. On February 23, the hunger-strikers moved from the Mayoralty into the building of the former Pension Fund office.