Nurettin Demirtas, chairman of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), had been held since December on charges of obtaining false medical reports declaring him unfit for military service.

Late Monday, a military court decided to free Demirtas, 35, along with 51 others standing trial on similar charges. He risks up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Demirtas was immediately drafted and taken to a garrison in the northern town of Safranbolu, Anatolia reported.

A medical examination earlier this year found him fit for military service.

Demirtas, known as a Kurdish hardliner, was arrested on December 17, shortly after being elected DTP chairman, as part of a nationwide probe into a network of doctors and middlemen who provided false medical reports to draft evaders.

He had earlier served time for membership in the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody 23-year campaign for self-rule in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

The DTP itself is currently on trial before the Constitutional Court for alleged links to the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, and faces the risk of being outlawed.