Leyla Güven released from prison - NEW

Kurdish politician Leyla Güven who was imprisoned on June 4, has been released from prison Tuesday evening.

DTK (Democratic Society Congress) co-chair and HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) MP Leyla Güven and HDP MP Musa Farisoğulları were remanded in custody after being stripped of their parliamentary immunity on June 4.

Güven was jailed to serve the 1,5-month prison sentence left over from a trial she had been subject to before. While Güven was not even supposed to be put in prison as she should have benefited from probation, she was sent to Diyarbakır T Type Women’s Closed Prison.

The application filed by lawyers has been accepted and Güven has been released from prison this evening.

Making a statement after her release, DTK co-chair Leyla Güven said: “You will not affect our people's morale, it is not us to be stuck. As a people, we will certainly win.”

Güven, who was released after 5 days in prison, said: “I was released, but [HDP deputy] Musa Farisoğulları underwent a surgery on his head before being detained and suffers from many other health issues. Like thousands of other prisoners left inside. For this reason, one cannot be happy to be out of prison.

We know that this is a challenge. We will resist until the Kurdish people gain their freedom. We will never step back. We were not born deputies. Fighting areas are everywhere, we don’t need to be deputies. We will continue our struggle in every way. I will continue to struggle both as a Kurdish woman and as Democratic Society Congress co-chair, as the Kurdish people desires. Kurds have been waiting at the prison doors for years. Kurds are not waiting at the prison doors because they are guilty but because of the hostility towards them. We know where we come from and where we go. As an organized people, we will certainly win. The Kurdish people will win their freedom. They are the losers. That's why they are doing this. The HDP will continue to struggle."

The DTK co-chair added: “What did we say? Berxwedan jiyan ê.”