Residents of Dagestani village of Shushiya suspended their hunger strike

Six women-villagers of Shushiya, Novolak District of Dagestan, have suspended their hunger strike, which was launched with a demand to allocate land plots to them. They agreed to define their further actions after a new decision of the Kumtorkalin Court on the lawsuit of the village administration, asking to cancel the registration of the lease contract on the disputed land plots.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 10, in Shushiya, protestors resumed their hunger strike demanding to return in the form of shares 9 hectares of land leased out by Agricultural Production Cooperative (APC) "Almaz". The protest action initially involved 15 persons.

Today, the hunger-strikers were visited by Gadji Aidiev, the head of the Novolak District.

"He came along with the head of the village administration, asked us to stop the hunger strike and promised that after the trial, which is now underway over 9 hectares of land, we will be allocated land plots," Elmira Bagirchaeva, one of the protesters, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Gadji Aidiev explained in his comment to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the hunger-strikers' problem cannot be solved until the enactment of the court judgement.

"As I said before, without cancelling the state registration of the lease contract of the land plots in question, it is impossible to give land to other people. Therefore, we are now at litigation, because there's no other way to solve the problem. After the trial, in accordance with our agreements, the land will be handed over to villagers," said Aidiev.

When asked by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about his actions in case of losing the case, the district head replied that he saw no reason for such a scenario.

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