Imprisoned Coptic protesters now free!

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) welcomes the release of 27 imprisoned Copts in Egypt who were accused of attacking soldiers during a demonstration in Cairo. "However, we regret that the judicial authorities stick to the accusations against the freed prisoners and continue to deny the responsibility of the army for the violence," said the STP's Africa-expert, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Friday.

The Copts had been protesting – peacefully at first – at Maspero, where the state-run TV-agency is located, on October 9, 2011. After the army brutally intervened, 27 people got killed and 329 people were injured. Most victims were Copts.

Only one of the detainees, the blogger Abd El Fattah, will stay in custody. He had filed an individual complaint against his detention that cannot be decided on for the next two weeks due to formal reasons.

The proceedings were finally transferred to civilian judges last Monday. Before, a military court was entrusted with it. After protests at home and abroad, the case was first transferred to the State Security Court and the to a civilian court. "Many Copts hope that now – after the release of the arrested people and the case being transferred to a civil court – the background on the Maspero massacre and the excessive violence by the army will be fully investigated," said Delius.