The Freedom for Ocalan Vigil was launched on June 25, 2012 in front of the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg, France.

The  vigil was taken over by a group from Dortmund, Germany last week, and will be continued this week by Yasar Ertas, Yahya Aslan, Mustafa Tezni and Harun from Dusseldorf.

“CAPTIVITY IS UNACCEPTABLE”

The group released a statement and said the 20 year long captivity of the Kurdish People’s Leader is unacceptable.

They added that the Kurds want to live in peace and fraternity and stressed that they insist on peace, on lands where massacres reign free.

HARSH CRITICISM OF ECHR AND CPT

The statement called for an end to the Kurdish People’s Leader’s captivity and criticised the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the Council of Europe for remaining silent in the face of over 2 years of absolute isolation against Ocalan.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as well as the CPT was harshly criticized for their recent rulings as the statement said the court’s rulings were “geared towards not angering the dictatorship”.

ALL-DAY VIGIL DESPITE THE COLD

The Freedom for Ocalan Vigil activists hold watch from early morning until the evening despite the cold in the 339th week.

The activists have billboards that read “Freedom for Ocalan” and inform the public.

The Freedom for Ocalan Vigil stands out as the longest uninterrupted protest held by the Kurdish people to date. There have been over 2.000 participants in the vigil, including many Europeans.