Residents of Novolak District of Dagestan restart hunger strike

Residents of the village of Shushiya in the Novolak District of Dagestan have resumed their hunger strike demanding the return of their land plots and solution of other resettlers' problems.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 23, 2014, 34 residents of the Novolak District of Dagestan, including 14 women, went on hunger strike. Their main demand was to return them the land plots of the total area of 9 hectares, located opposite Shushiya and currently leased by the Agricultural-Production Cooperative (APC) "Almaz". After meeting with Gadji Aidiev, the head of the district administration, on December 24, 2014, the hunger-strikers decided to suspend their action.

"We've waited not for a month, but for 40 days; however, none of our demands was fulfilled; therefore, people gathered in the same house in the outskirt of the village and resumed their hunger strike," Elmira Bagirchaeva, one of the protesters, has explained.

According to her story, currently, there are 15 hunger-strikers.

According to Muslim Gasan-Guseinov, the head of the brunch of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party in the Lak District, the cause of the action is in a complete absence of public trust in the authorities.

The hunger-strikers have appealed for help to the Laks' National Council; and its head Amuchi Amutinov intends to meet residents of Shushiya and discuss the situation, said Gasan-Guseinov.

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