Prosecutors on Monday opened a new investigation into jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the main opposition’s presidential candidate, over remarks he made during a court hearing in a separate trial tied to his criticism of an expert witness, adding to a growing list of legal cases against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s top rival, Turkish Minute reported.
The Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the investigation was launched after İmamoğlu presented his defense at a hearing in İstanbul’s 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, accusing him of insulting and threatening public officials over comments directed at judicial officials involved in the broader case against him.
The new probe was announced after İmamoğlu delivered a sharply worded defense in what is known in Turkey as the “expert witness case,” in which he is being prosecuted over earlier criticism of a court-appointed expert whose reports he says have been used to target opposition politicians and municipal officials.
In his defense on Monday İmamoğlu said the expert witness had not merely written reports but had helped ruin the lives of politicians and bureaucrats through what he described as false and slanderous findings. He also accused the judiciary, expert witnesses and media outlets of working together to damage reputations and justify detentions.
The court adjourned the expert witness trial until July 13.
The latest investigation adds to mounting legal pressure on İmamoğlu, who has been in pretrial detention since March 2025 in a sweeping corruption case targeting the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. He denies all charges and says the prosecutions are politically motivated.
İmamoğlu, a senior figure in the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is widely seen as the strongest potential challenger to Erdoğan in Turkey’s next presidential election. His arrest last year triggered the largest anti-government protests in Turkey in more than a decade.
