Chechin and Gribul conduct dry hunger strike together in Tbilisi prison

Russian citizens Artem Gribul and Anton Chechin, arrested on drug trafficking charges after participating in protests in Georgia, are holding a dry hunger strike together in Gldani prison.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, Artem Gribul, accused in Georgia of drug trafficking, announced a hunger strike on July 21 after another hearing in his case, where the judge did not allow him to make a statement.

Artem Gribul's lawyer tried to convince him to stop his hunger strike today, but the arrested Russian did not agree. Another Russian political prisoner, Anton Chechin, is also on hunger strike with Gribul; they have been transferred to a separate cell and have been on a dry hunger strike for the second day, the Tbilisi_life Telegram channel reported.

The information that Anton Chechin is also on a hunger strike together with Artem Gribul was confirmed by his lawyer, writes Publika.

Gribul's defense team distributed his statement, which he planned to voice in court on July 21. The security forces did not hide the fact that they planted drugs on him and Anastasia Zinovkina "for participating in protests, for the defense of democracy and freedom in Georgia," Gribul claims. He noted that the cases of some other demonstrators - Anton Chechin, Georgiy Akhobadze, Nika Katsia and Tedo Abramov - "copy down to the smallest detail" the case against him and Anastasia Zinovkina.

The court refused to include in the case the recordings from the CCTV camera, which recorded “all the crimes during our arrest up to the moment of planting the drugs,” and the protocols of questioning the police officers and translators do not contain the phone numbers from which the defense could have seized call details and information about their movements. This evidence could prove that the security forces witnesses gave false testimony in court.

“During interrogation in court, Irakli Mukhatgverdeli said that he searched me without gloves and took out packages with drugs. BUT in fact, he searched Anastasia, and I was searched by Dzhemal Mirazanashvili, who in court stated that he was not at the scene of the arrest,” writes Gribul.

Artem Gribul demanded that the conditions of detention of Anastasia Zinovkina, who suffers from problems with her spine and vision, be improved, and that she be provided with normal nutrition. In addition, he demanded that journalists be allowed to attend all trials and that an investigation be launched against the police officers based on the complaints they filed.

“Until my demands are met, I am declaring a dry hunger strike without food or water. I also call on all prisoners of conscience in Georgia to join the hunger strike,” the prisoner said in a statement.

Anton Chechin’s wife Manana Samkharadze expressed concern for the health and life of her husband and his cellmate. “I really hope they stop this soon, I don’t know how they will survive without water in this heat,” she wrote on her Facebook page*.

Doctor Giorgi Akhobadze, arrested in a similar drug case, spoke on July 21 about the unbearable conditions in Gldani Prison. He said that there is insufficient ventilation in the premises, and in the summer heat, prisoners suffer from stuffiness.

* the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.