A Turkish man in Hatay province who was detained and later released pending trial on charges of harassing his ex-girlfriend has reportedly been re-arrested after police found statements allegedly insulting autocratic Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his messages and phone calls to his victim.

According to a report by BBC Turkish, the man, Erdoğan Küpeli, was taken into custody by Turkish police the day after a complaint was made by his ex-girlfriend, 29-year-old Gülay Mübarek. Küpeli was taken to police headquarters and reportedly released pending trial the following day. However, Küpeli was re-detained by the police the same day and this time was put in jail because police officers detected messages and e-mails on his phone that allegedly insulted President Erdoğan.

A total of 1,080 people were convicted of insulting Erdoğan in 2016, according to data from Turkey’s Justice Ministry. The data also showed that 4,936 cases were launched against people on charges of insult in 2016.

The report indicated that 4,750 people over the age of 18, 36 foreign nationals and two legal entities were accused of insult, leading to the conviction of 1,080 people on insult charges, of whom 867 received suspended sentences. A total of 679 people were acquitted. According to the report, 102 children between the ages of 12-15 and 138 minors between the ages 15-18 were accused of committing crimes against the sovereignty of the state and the prestige of its bodies. (turkeypurge.com)

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