Nun Goes on Hunger Strike in Solidarity to Saralidze, Machalikashvili

Jvari Monastery nun Tamari has launched a hunger strike at the old building parliament in central Tbilisi in solidarity to Zaza Saralidze, father of the murdered teen Davit, and Malkhaz Machalikashvili, whose son was killed in anti-terrorist operation in December, who are holding protest rallies, asking for “fair investigation and punishment of the perpetrators.”

Mother Tamari says that despite the fact that going on hunger strike is considered a sin in Christianity, she still wants to stand next to Saralidze and Machalikashvili and calls on the other clerics to follow her example.

Zaza Saralidze and Malkhaz Machalikashvili went on hunger strike and renewed protest rallies in central on September 10.

Saralidze’s son Davit and another teenager Levan Dadunashvili were stabbed to death in a fight between schoolboys on Khorava Street on December 1, 2017.

On May 31, Tbilisi City Court charged two minors in connection to the murders - one for the premeditated murder of Dadunashvili and the second for the attempted murder of Saralidze; however, the court stated that could not determine who exactly had killed Saralidze, which sparked mass protests in the capital on the suspicion of an intentional cover-up.

Temirlan Machalikashvili, 19, received a head-wound during a special operation in the Pankisi Gorge on 26 December 2017.

Georgian law-enforcers claim that Machalikashvili was shot when he tried to detonate a grenade. However, the family and relatives say that he was sleeping when law-enforcers shot him without warning.

The father of the deceased young man has several demands. He wants law enforcers to confess that his son was killed by mistake. He also demands his family be granted the status of victim, adding his son was the victim of someone’s mistake.

The man calls on the government to hold everyone involved in the operation responsible, adding the authorities are trying to accuse his son of having links with terrorists.

Saralidze and Machalikashvili claim they will not stop their hunger strike until all their demands are met.

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: Geotimes

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