Istanbul, Sept 21, (dpa/GNA) – An Istanbul court is resuming a case against Istanbul’s opposition party mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu on Wednesday, over his alleged insults of state officials in a 2019 speech.
Prosecutors are seeking up to four years in prison or a political ban for Imamoglu, for allegedly calling members of the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) “fools” during a November 2019 speech, according to an indictment seen by dpa.
If the court imposes a political ban or prison sentence of one year or more, Imamoglu will have to step down, his lawyer Kemal Polat told dpa.
The mayor will stay in office until any such decision is final, following an appeals process, he added.
Polat said he expects Imamoglu to be acquitted, but is still “prepared for a surprise decision,” for example a possible fine or jail sentence.
Imamoglu, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP), narrowly won the March 2019 mayoral election, against his rival from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party.
He won in a re-run in June 2019 by an even larger margin, after the YSK annulled the original result from March.
“Those who annulled the elections on March 31 are fools,” Imamoglu said in a speech in November 2019.
The mayor had not been referring to the YSK, and the court case should have never been opened, Polat argued.
Considered a potential challenger to Erdogan’s 20-year rule in the elections set for 2023, Imamoglu is an outspoken critic of the president’s policies, particularly concerning the economy and urban planning.
GNA