eka beselia

Eka Beselia, chair of the parliamentary committee on human rights. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The hunger strike at Rustavi women’s prison is over. Prisoners of No 5 prison facility in Rustavi, a town 20 km south of the capital, had been on hunger strike for two days demanding to get their sentences reduced.

Wednesday, Eka Beselia, chair of the parliamentary committee on human rights, visited Rustavi to meet with the prisoners. She said the women ended their hunger strike after talking to her.

Beselia explained that the prisoners were also protesting against the fact that only a few of them were included in a mass amnesty earlier this year, which released thousands and halved the sentences of thousands more.

“They request legislative amendments and to get their sentences reduced to half,” she said. “I promised them that I will review case of each of them individually.”

The new government introduced a mass amnesty which released more than 8 000 prisoners. 360 of them were women.