Garo Paylan, Istanbul Armenian MP from the opposition and pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey, has commented on the life sentence that was handed down against Turkish intellectuals and journalists Ahmet and Mehmet Altan brothers, who recognize Armenian Genocide.

“Hostages who don’t have a German, French, US passport are sentenced [in Turkey] to life imprisonment, since they are not a bargaining chip,” Paylan wrote on his Twitter account.

Here he meant German daily Die Welt reporter Deniz Yücel’s recent release in Turkey, following the statement by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the Altan brothers, who were sentenced to life in prison.

Such a sentence was handed down to these brothers just for writing, in one of their articles prior to the 2016 military coup attempt in Turkey, that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would soon step down.