Routsi told OPEN television that the incident occurred as he went to his car. ‘I heard a car coming at high speed. I saw it coming towards me and I made a movement on the bonnet, otherwise it would have swept me away,’ he said. He added that the vehicle had no licence plates and its windows were tinted. He said the break-in at his son’s house a few weeks earlier raised concerns that the two events could be linked.

Commenting on the new law that makes acts such as ‘occupation of surface’ or ‘alteration of the space’ in front of Parliament punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment or a fine, Routsi suggested the aim was to curb visible protest. ‘I probably bothered them a lot,’ he said. ‘I do not understand why. Why did I have to wait 23 days for the obvious? To find out how my child died.’

Routsi reiterated that ordinary citizens were not offended by his hunger strike. ‘No ordinary citizen has ever told me they were annoyed,’ he said, recalling his 23-day protest that secured approval for exhumation and toxicological testing in his son’s case.

He vowed that the families will continue to keep the memory of the victims alive. ‘Until justice is served, the names will be repainted, not only by us but by others too,’ he said. ‘We do not influence anyone, we respect the space, but we should also be respected because we lost our children.’

On the question of exhumation, Routsi said the families were consulting foreign specialists and planned to reapply for the procedure once those experts arrive.

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