Several opposition politicians and journalists have begun a hunger strike in the Caspian city of Astrakhan to demand a halt to what they say is the persecution of opposition activists in the southern Russian region, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
One of the hunger strikers, Russian State Duma Deputy Oleg Shein, told RFE/RL that several criminal cases have been launched against opposition activists in Astrakhan in the last six months. The hunger strikers consider all those cases politically motivated.
The hunger strikers are members of A Just Russia party, the Communist Party, and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.