Former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili stops his hunger strike

The Secretary General of the "United National Movement" Party and ex-Prime Minister of Georgia Vano Merabishvili has stopped his hunger strike after he was allowed to have a TV-set in his cell, said his advocate Georgiy Chiviashvili.

The hunger strike of Vano Merabishvili, who was arrested on May 22 for two months on charges of abuse of power, embezzlement and bribing voters, was also announced yesterday, on June 17, by his advocate. Merabishvili demanded to have a TV-set and to provide his relatives with a power of attorney for using his bank accounts.

"Today, I visited him in jail; he feels good and stopped his hunger strike, as his demand was fulfilled. Tomorrow he will have a TV-set," Georgiy Chiviashvili told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

With regard to the second demands, according to Chiviashvili, this issue remains open. According to the lawyer, the Georgian legislation does not stipulate that a possibility of issuing such power of attorney applies only to convicts.

Meanwhile, Irakli Kordzaya, the head of the press service of the Ministry of Corrections, Probation and Legal Assistance of Georgia, said that Merabishvili is in the so-called "Matrosov Jail", where former law enforcers or militaries are kept.