Italian activist released in Turkey

(ANSA) - Massa, October 11 - A 53-year-old Italian vet and activist who has been held in Turkey for a week was released on Thursday, his friend and Italy contact told reporters.
    Gianfranco Castellotti, from Massa on the northern Tuscan coast, "was freed today," said Maria Grazia Vanelli.
    "There are no deportation orders, he will leave Turkey a free man.
    "We are organising the return journey with the consulate.
    "We are preparing the tickets.
    "He should leave physically today or tomorrow at the most".
    Castellotti was arrested last Thursday in a raid by Turkish police on an Istanbul cultural centre.
    He was in the Turkish capital to follow the trial of Grup Yorum, a band accused of terrorism for singing about freedom from the government.
    Vanelli said he had started a hunger strike to protest the conditions he and the others arrested were being held in, and "because he doesn't want his deportation to stop him going back to Turkey one day.
    "If he continues the hunger strike he may have health problems but if I know him a little I don't think he'll give in".
    Vanelli also said he had been allowed to see a lawyer and take drugs he must take because he cannot interrupt a therapy he is undergoing.
    There was a rally for Castellotti outside Massa's main theatre at 15:00 Saturday following an appeal from the Anti-Imperialist Front Italia association.