The Freedom for Öcalan Vigil has been going on for nine years in Strasbourg and is in its 482nd week.

This week, a group of patriotic Kurds from Giessen, Germany, took over the vigil, carried out where the various European institutions are located. The activists demand the end of isolation and the freedom of Kurdish people's leader, Abdullah Öcalan.

Şerif Hezex, Esta Serhat, Xebat Mardin and Mecit Botan are the activists that took over the vigil this week.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Şerif Hezex underlined that their aim is Öcalan's freedom and said that the Kurdish people will continue their actions until the Kurdish leader is free. Pointing out that Turkey's crimes against the Kurdish people, including Öcalan, are crimes against humanity, Hezex said that the European Parliament and the Council of Europe still have not taken any steps against these crimes.

Şerif Hezex underlined that the European institutions have not produced a single permanent solution and said: “The European institutions are complicit in the fact that his family and lawyers are still unable to see him. These institutions have not fulfilled the democracy and human rights missions on which they are based.”

Hezex said that the Kurdish people are aware of all this dirty partnership and will continue their actions until they get results.