Turkey frees student who was arrested for 'insulting' leader

A Turkish court on Friday ordered the release of a 16-year-old high school student arrested for "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following accusations his detention was the latest sign of the country veering toward authoritarianism.

The boy, Mehmet Emin Altunses, was released following a complaint by his lawyer over his arrest in the central city of Konya.

He was met by his parents as he left the city's main courthouse, but said his political activism would continue, the CNN-Turk channel reported.

"There is no question of taking a step back from our path; we will continue along this road," he said.

Altunses had delivered a speech on Wednesday in Konya, a bastion of the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, in which he accused Erdogan and the party of corruption.

The boy, who was arrested at his school, denied having links to a political party, but confirmed he had made the statements.

Altunses had accused Erdogan of being the "chief of theft, bribery and corruption".

Despite his release, he remains accused of insulting Erdogan and will face trial at a date yet to be announced. He risks up to four years in prison if convicted.

The boy's lawyer, Baris Ispir, submitted a petition for his release to the court, accompanied by 100 colleagues who came from Istanbul in a show of support.

'Should be at school'

His legal team pointed out that accusations against Erdogan and his inner circle have been circulating for months on social media without any action being taken.

The boy's mother, an unemployed cook, expressed shock over the arrest, saying he had been detained "as if he were an armed terrorist".

"He is only a boy, his place is in school and not the prison," Nazmiye Gok told the Hurriyet daily.

His arrest came amid growing concerns about freedom of speech in Turkey under Erdogan, following raids earlier this month on opposition media linked to the president's main opponent, exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had supported the court's original decision to arrest the boy, saying: "Everyone must respect the office of president whoever he is."

Sezgin Tanrikulu, vice-president of the main opposition Republican People's Party, wrote on Twitter that the release would do nothing to change "the miserable situation in which our democracy finds itself".

The authorities are hugely sensitive to allegations of corruption following sensational claims against key government members and Erdogan's inner circle that emerged in December last year.

Four Cabinet ministers resigned, but Erdogan accused the US-based Gulen of concocting the graft scandal and spreading leaks in social media in a bid to topple his government.

No mercy

Erdogan has vowed no mercy in the fight against Gulen, and the authorities have over the last year effectively purged the police force and judiciary to rid them of pro-Gulenist elements.

Thirty police, journalists and scriptwriters were arrested this month in the latest of a string of raids that provoked a major rift with the European Union, which Turkey hopes one day to join.

A court issued an arrest warrant for Gulen, though there appears for now little chance of him being extradited from the United States..