Istanbul’s imprisoned opposition mayor appeared on Friday in one of several cases against him in court. Hundreds of supporters gathered in front of the Silivri prison west of Istanbul, where the hearing took place.
Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has been held in Silivri since March 23. In this case, it is claimed that he has threatened a prosecutor and is one of six who led to nationwide protests before his arrest last month.
Imamoglu spoke before the judge and said he was on trial because he had won three elections against the person “, who believes that he has Istanbul”, an indication of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who launched his political career as the mayor of the city in the 1990s.
At the hearing was reported by Imamoglus wife and son and the legislators of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Halk TV and other outlets. The case was postponed to June 16.
The mayor, who is also the 22-year rule of Erdogan’s 22-year-old opposition challenger in the next national elections, stands more than seven years ago and a political ban that is supposedly “addressed, threatened and insulted in the fight against terrorism”.
The indictment results from the comments he made on January 20, in which he criticized Istanbul chief attorney Akin Gurlek about criminal matters against other opposition figures.
Politically motivated charges, says opposition
Imamoglu was arrested on March 19 in relation to two investigations-a one that focused on corruption in the municipality of Istanbul and another terrorist connections in the election pact of his party with pro-Kurdish politicians.
Demonstrations that demanded his release and an end to Turkey’s democratic review under Erdogan led to around 2,000 people were detained for participation in protests that were banned by the authorities.
Followers of Istanbul’s popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu collided with the turmoil after his arrest for allegations of corruption and the support of a terrorist group. Imamoglu, a political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was expected to run in the next national elections.
The mayor was officially nominated as a CHP presidential candidate. An election is scheduled to take place in 2028, but can come earlier, and the detention of Imamoglu was generally considered politically motivated, although the government insists that the judiciary of Türkiye is independent and free of political influence.
Two other dishes in Istanbul also stopped hearing against Imamoglu on Friday.
One is a Bid-Rigging case that goes back 10 years when he was the mayor of the Beylikduzu district of Istanbul. The other claims to collect the illegal collection of donations and comes from a video that was trained in the run-up to the local elections of the past year and count the clinical employees with cash bundles.
In 2019, Imamoglu was forced to choose a repetition for the mayor after the government party questioned the first vote on alleged irregularities, and Turkey’s outline exposed to the results and the mandate of Imamoglu revoked after 18 days. Many voters were outraged and he won a second voice.
