gone hunger strike in support of Vasily Aleksanyan.

Seven people in Moscow, one person in Voronezh and one in Samara went on hunger strike in support of Vasily Aleksanyan.

“On the 1st of February four people began their hunger strike; three more followed on the 4th of February – three people in Moscow and one in Voronezh. And from today yet another person in Samara has joined in. Nine people altogether”, - said one of the hunger strike participants, Yulia Bashinova.

She says that is unlimited and that the participants are not representatives of any organizations, save two activists from the United Civil Front’s youth movement.

‘We demand that Aleksanyan is admitted to a hospital and we demand an end to this torture’, - she said.

‘I see no other way to attract attention to this problem’, - said Bashinova.

A member of the ‘Anti-military action committee’, Yelena Sannikova, said: ‘They drag him to court in front of the eyes of the world although he really should be hospitalized. He should be given medicine, painkillers and stay in a specialist clinic, not in a prison medical center where they can’t treat him’.

She says that the hunger strike will carry on until there is a change in Aleksanyan’s measure of restraint. ‘Vasily Aleksanyan should be released from prison or at least put in a hospital’, - Sannikova says.

‘We are no longer appealing to our government. We are trying to attract the attention of the general public. People should be made aware of this’ - one of the activists added.