Max Zirngast is free. For now, at least.

The twenty-nine-year-old political scientist, journalist, and Jacobin contributor was released from custody on December 24 after spending three months in a maximum-security prison in Turkey. Charged with membership in a terrorist organization, Max’s trial begins on April 11. He is not allowed to leave the country until then.

In the first extended interview with Max since his release, Austrian journalist Franziska Tschinderle spoke with him about his work in Turkey, the accusations against him, and why he doesn’t see himself as a “hostage.”