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Georgian singer declines the Order of Honor in protest against prison tortures

Bakur Burduli said that it was inadmissible for him to be the cavalry of an order received from the hands of rulers who torture people in prisons

TBILISI, September 24 (Itar-Tass) — Georgian singer Bakur Burduli has decided to decline the Order of Honor with which President Mikhail Saakashvili decorated him several years ago.

Burduli said that it was inadmissible for him to be the cavalry of an order received from the hands of rulers who torture people in prisons.

“I cannot stay indifferent to what’s going on in the country. The footages of inmates being tortured were a shock for me. My decision to return the order is my revolt. I hope that my friends and colleagues will follow suit,” the signer said in an interview with the Tbilisi-based newspaper “Asaval-Lasavali” published on Monday.

Bakur Burduli became the second Georgian cultural figure to decline one of Georgia’s highest state awards. In April 2001, popular movie actor Nodar Mgaloblishvili refused to accept the Order of Honor from the then Georgian President Eduard Shevarnadze. Mgaloblishvili said he couldn’t accept the award from the government which had deprived the population of its basic rights by not paying salaries and forcing people to sell personal belongings to earn money for living.

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