Two people placed in one of the quarantine zones in Tbilisi went on hunger strike for 8 days in protest

GYLA responds to the case of people placed in one of the quarantine zones of Tbilisi, who have been trying in vain for several days to contact the relevant administrative bodies and get a reasoned answer.

Shota and Irakli Gureshidze arrived by air in Georgia on April 14th. As soon as they flew in, they were taken to one of the quarantine zones in Tbilisi. Since they had a house suitable for self-isolation, the next day they informed the relevant persons that they wanted to spend the quarantine period in self-isolation. Their demand for self-isolation was not satisfied without any substantiated reason, which led to their protest and their refusal to sign the consent document for staying in quarantine. Refusal to sign was considered by the police officers as an administrative offense, they draw up the administrative violation protocol on both and they were fined with 3000-3000 GEL. Due to the incident, Irakli and Shota Gureshidze’s started a hunger strike, which they had to stop 8 days later due to their deteriorating health condition.

Due to the fact that the mentioned persons did not agree with the decision of the administrative bodies regarding their placement in the quarantine zone, they applied to the relevant agencies with an administrative complaint. Considering the fact that they do not have the right to leave the quarantine zone, the complaint was sent to the official e-mail of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia as well as to the official Facebook pages. However, it is still unknown for them at this time what response was to their submitted complaints. They can't even connect to the official hotline and get a proper justification.

GYLA calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia to review the submitted administrative complaint and inform the applicants about the relevant results before the 14-day quarantine period expires.