Abkhaz activist goes on hunger strike, demands authorities to reduce fuel prices
Abkhaz activist demands to reduce the price of gasoline
Activist Dzhansukh Adleiba is demanding the return of pre-crisis fuel tariffs in Abkhazia with his personal protest at Svoboda Square in Sukhum that has been going on for a week now.
Since the beginning of his hunger strike on June 11, Dzhansukh has not yet yielded to the persuasions of the authorities, who, with documents and calculations in their hands, are trying to prove to him that it is not in their power to lower gasoline prices.
Fuel tariffs have increased by 20% since March. The government explains the situation with a sharp global increase in oil prices amid Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Adleiba, on the other hand, cites South Ossetia as an example, where, according to him, such a surge in prices was avoided.
Mayor of Sukhum Beslan Eshba, Minister of Economy Kristina Ozgan, heads of fuel companies came to meet him at the bench where he is protesting.
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During his previous series of protests, Adleiba demanded that the parliament tighten anti-corruption laws. He demanded the implementation of already existing norms to combat corruption.
At some stage, Adleiba went on a hunger strike too. He ended the strike only after a special meeting of parliament, where a number of amendments to the law were adopted.
The Anti-Corruption Law has been adopted in Abkhazia, but why do activists say that it is a fiction?
The law will come into force only at the very end of the year, and it does not include the liability of adult children of officials and deputies
On top of that, the previous president, Raul Khadjimba, personally persuaded Adleiba to unblock the entrance to the Sukhumi city dump. But in the end, the landfill was closed, and the garbage had to be taken elsewhere.
Now the government is unsuccessfully trying to convey economic calculations to Adleiba: in order to sell gasoline cheaper, fuel companies must either not top up gasoline and not pay taxes, or close filling stations.
The leaders of fuel companies, during a meeting with Adleiba, suggested that he himself find a solution that would reduce gasoline prices.
“The problem is not the price of gasoline, but the lack of economic reform and corruption”
Abkhazia-Center telegram channel explains the history of the Abkhazian protests, including the current hunger strike, by the lack of real reforms in the country.
“We need to invite a dozen and a half financiers-economists, “wolves from Wall Street”, who will finally give the Abkhazian economy the right direction and place it on more or less modern tracks.
They will do this not by introducing more “kickbacks” and “cuts”, but by receiving the fees for services prescribed in the contracts”.
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