Eighteen hunger strikers are demanding a meeting with President Akaev to discuss the issue of punishment for the persons responsible for the deaths of their relatives who were shot by police during the March 2002 demonstration in Aksy Raion. The women were detained by police on 15 May when they tried to obtain a meeting with Akaev. They are demanding a written guarantee from the government that the president will receive them and that they will not be detained again. They are staging their hunger strike in the Bishkek apartment of opposition parliamentarian Azimbek Beknazarov, whose arrest in January 2002 the Aksy demonstrators were protesting. One striker was quoted as saying that if Akaev cannot ensure that those responsible for the Aksy deaths are punished, he should resign. (akipress.org)