Dagestani hunger-strikers need no hospitalization, medics believe

The health condition of the 10 villagers of Shushiya, who hold a hunger strike in support of their demand to allocate land, causes no doctor's concern, Minazhat Gadjieva, a nurse of the Shushiya feldsher-midwife station, told the "Caucasian Knot".

"They are all weak, suffer from low or high blood tension and stomach pains; however, none of them needs hospitalization," she said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 10 the hunger strike, initially declared on December 23, 2014, was resumed in the village of Shushiya. The protest was suspended on December 24 after the promise of the district head Gadji Aidiev to return the land that had been granted into lease to the Agrarian-Production Cooperative (APC) "Almaz", back to villagers. The hunger strike takes place in an uninhabited and unheated house located in the outskirt of the village; and initially there were 15 hunger-strikers.

Now, 10 hunger-strikers continue their action, said Elmira Bagirchaeva, one of them.

"They are mainly elderly women. They feel bad; however, we'll not stop it, until we get a resolution about allocation of three hectares of land for the 15 families, who had began the hunger strike," Elmira told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Gasan Aigunov, the Chairman of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) of Dagestan and a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia, said that members of the Council visited Shushiya, drafted a review of the problem and handed it over to Denga Khalidov, the adviser to the head of the republic.

"I will insist that the head of the local administration was summoned to the government and ordered to distribute the three hectares of land in question," Gasan Aigunov, who visited Shushiya on February 17, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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