Imprisoned Istanbul mayor appears in court hearing
Istanbul’s jailed mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu appeared before a court on numerous cases made against him on April 11th, as his supporters congregated outside.
As the hearing began which involved allegations Imamaglu intimidated a public prosecutor, hundreds of his supporters convened outside Silivri prison, where the hearing is happening, in west of Istanbul, AP News reported on April 11th.
The case is one out of six that precede his jailing, which sparked countrywide protests. Speaking to the judge, Imamoglu said he was a target for the charges because he had beaten three times in elections the person “who thinks he owns Istanbul”, referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan, who had his political start as the city’s mayor in the 1990s has been a major backer of his party’s contenders against Imamoglu.
Imamoglu, the key opposition candidate to contest Erdogan’s 22-year presidency at the upcoming election is confronting a sentence of more than seven years in jail and a political bar for purportedly “targeting, threatening and insulting persons working in the fight against terrorism.”
Comments he made denouncing Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akin Gurlek over criminal cases filed against other opposition candidates serves as the origin of the charge.
Imamoglu’s wife and son, policymakers from the Republican People’s Party, Halk TV and other outlets were present at the hearing of the case which has been adjourned to June 16th.
The mayor was detained on March 19th over two investigations, one examining corruption in the Istanbul municipality and the other claiming terrorism connections in his party’s electoral agreement with pro-Kurdish politicians.
Roughly 2,000 people have been arrested for protesting for his release and against the lack of democracy under Erdogan. These demonstrations had been banned by officials, but were nevertheless taking place.
The detention of Imamoglu – who was nominated as the Republican People’s Party presidential candidate while in detention – is broadly understood as politically driven despite the government rejecting the idea that Turkey’s judiciary has been politically influenced.
Two other Istanbul courts also ran hearings on charges against Imamoglu on April 11th.
They involved allegations of bid-rigging a decade ago, while he was mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikduzu area.
The second made claims of illicit donation collection and is based on a video distributed before last year’s local elections, revealing Republic People’s Party staff checking a large sum of cash.
AP
