22:47, 18 March 2005

Prisoners go on hunger strike

On 16 and 17 March, 40 convicts serving their time in a prison in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia, refused to eat in protest against bad living conditions.

Their main claim is normal living conditions, said David Sanakoyev, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of South Ossetia. "The living conditions are indeed far from normal there: cells in which convicts are held are not heated and it is difficult to maintain elementary sanitary conditions there. Sick convicts stay in mass cells where many prisoners are kept as there are no prison hospital; there is also an acute shortage of medicines," Mr Sanakoyev says.

Government officials who visited the prison earlier today listened to the prisoners' complaints and promised to take urgent measures to improve their conditions. Several sick men will be admitted to hospital in the next few days.