Chechnya hunger strike MEP enters week three

Date: 07/03/02

MAVERICK MEP Olivier Dupuis today (7 March) entered the third week of a hunger strike against the 'genocide' in Chechnya.

Italian Dupuis, a member of the Transnational Radical Party, says the Russian military is terrorising Chechen separatists and that the European Union should be doing more to resolve the bitter conflict.

The 35-year-old told European Voice: 'I haven't eaten for two weeks but I am drinking lots of water and feel relatively strong.

'I once went 35 days on hunger strike and know from personal experience that the pain really kicks in after about 25 days. I am still attending the European Parliament and trying to keep busy.

'I am not willing to die but I will continue this protest as long as necessary. My hunger strike is not a gimmick. I am deadly serious in what I am doing.

'Genocide is taking place in Chechnya and I believe the EU should take a more active role in trying to broker a peaceful resolution.'

Chechen separatists won de facto independence after a 1994-96 war that ended with a Russian withdrawal, but Moscow sent troops back into the breakaway republic in October 1999. The protracted guerilla war has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Dupuis' defiant stand comes after Akhmed Zakaev, deputy prime minister of the Chechen government, made a personal plea to him to end his hunger strike this week.

He also called on the EU to take 'immediate and decisive steps' to end the fighting in his country.

But Dupuis has received several messages of support, including one from Elena Bonner, widow of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.

It is not the first time Dupuis has hit the headlines. In December, he was expelled from Laos and given a two-year suspended jail sentence for staging a public demonstration and distributing leaflets.

• An international fast, organised by the Transnational Radical Party, will be held from 12 to 14 March to back Dupuis' stance.

MEP Olivier Dupuis has entered the third week of a hunger strike against the 'genocide' in Chechnya, 7 March 2002.