Patriarch Tells Opposition to End Hunger Strike

Ilia II, the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, visited opposition hunger strikers outside Parliament on March 25 and told them to use alternative means of protest.

“I call on you once again to end the hunger strike,” he said. “Find other forms [of protest]… you should do everything to serve your homeland.”

He also said that hunger striking was “a sin” especially during the Great Lent ahead of Orthodox Christian Easter.