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In the third hearing of the Kobani Trial in which 108 current and former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members – 28 of whom are already in prison, including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ are on trial, some interim decisions were announced.
HDP members and peace activists, Berfin Özgü Köse, former HDP Kars Mayor Ayhan Bilgen, Can Memiş and Cihan Erdal were all released on condition of judicial control.
Berfin Özgü Köse who was held in Sincan prison was released in the evening time whereas Ayhan Bilgen, Can Memiş and Cihan Erdal were released during the night. The announcement of the 4 released names were met with applause.
Cihan Erdal who is a doctoral researcher and peace activist in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University in Ottawa spoke after he was released.
“I hope that this ridiculous indictment will come to nothing as soon as possible, that the court will see what the whole of society has seen, and that all our friends will be free. I hope that today is a new beginning for this court and that we will soon take all of our friends”
Can Memiş, expressed that he is feeling so sorry for his friends who were not released
“We are upset since our friends are still in prison, our activist friends are still behind bars for no reason. We will not be truely happy until they are released, I hope that they will all be released very soon”
The HDP members are being charged with the responsibility for the deaths that occurred during the 6-8 October 2014 protests against the ISIS attacks of the Syrian-Kurdish town of Kobani.
