French-Turkish Student Sevimli Released, 2824 More Counting

A court decided to release Sevil Sevimli, a 21 year old French citizen and a student who was arrested on May 10 for her alleged involvement in the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) after she arrived in the northwestern province of Eskişehir from France as part of the Erasmus student exchange program.

The court issued its verdict to release Sevimli on Monday within the scope of the Third Judicial Reform Package.

Kezban Yıldırım, Burcu Akın, Ceren Cevahir, Seren Özçelik and Mustafa Erdal Harman were also released from the Eskişehir H-Type Prison alongside with Sevimli.

The next hearing of Sevimli's trial is scheduled for Sept. 26 in the Bursa High Criminal Court in northwestern Turkey.

The Initiative for Solidarity with Arrested Students (TÖDİ) had also staged demonstrations in Paris to show their support for Sevimli whose arrest had also attracted the attention of the French media as well.

2824 more students counting

A total of 2824 students are still serving time in Turkey's jails as of Jan. 31, 2012, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said in response to a Parliamentary question posed by Özgür Özel, a deputy of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP.)

Minister Ergin also provided further details with respect to the situation of arrested students in Turkey in his response:

*There are 1046 convicted and 1778 arrested students in jails across Turkey.

*609 arrested students are facing charges of "membership in an armed terrorist organization."

*Courts have convicted 178 students on the charge of "membership in a terrorist organization. (ÇT)