A Moldovan detained in the country's breakaway Transdniester region has begun a hunger strike.
Vitalie Besleaga, a council member in the village of Varnita, and his associate Serghei Bevziuc, were arrested in November 2013 and charged with bribery.
The two said they were framed by Transdniester authorities in retaliation for their attempts in April 2013 to prevent Transdniester officials from installing checkpoints near their village, which is loyal to Chisinau.
Besleaga's brother, Alexandru, and lawyer Vladimir Maimust told journalists in Moldova's capital on November 11 that Besleaga began the hunger strike to protest the conditions he and Bevziuc are being kept in.
A judge on November 11 extended the men's detention by two months.
Transdniester declared independence from Moldova in 1990.
It fought a brief war with Moldova in 1992 that ended when Russian troops fought with Transdniester forces.
