Greek authorities plan to release seven imprisoned anti-globalisation protesters pending trial, including five who have been on hunger strike for up to two months, the fiancee of one of the protesters said today.
The five - two Spaniards, a Syrian, a Briton and a Greek - have been refusing to eat as a protest against their imprisonment since being arrested during riots at a European Union summit in Greece in June.
They are awaiting trial on charges of possession of explosives and weapons.
"We have just received a phone call from our lawyer saying they will be released until the trial," Ms Nerea Franco, fiancee of Mr Carlos Martinez, one of the two Spaniards, said.
Earlier, she said she had seen an order authorising the force-feeding of the hunger strikers. An authoritative Greek legal source confirmed an order had been issued and force feeding would be carried out "if doctors determine the health of the five is in danger".
Lawyers for the two Spaniards said yesterday doctors had advised if the hunger strike went on for another week the five could die. The group was transferred to Athens two weeks ago after prison officials in northern Greece, where they had been held since their arrest, said their condition was critical.
Seven people have been jailed since June, and 29 rioters have been charged with a variety of offences during anti-globalisation rallies which turned violent during the EU Summit in the northern city of Thessaloniki.