İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, currently jailed on corruption charges, was convicted on Wednesday of insulting and threatening a public prosecutor involved in a crackdown on his party, Turkish Minute reported.
He was acquitted of a separate charge of targeting individuals fighting terrorism.
The İstanbul court made its decision on İmamoğlu during the third hearing of his trial at a courthouse in the Marmara Prison Complex in Silivri.
The charges against the mayor stemmed from a January speech in which prosecutors alleged that İmamoğlu threatened İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek, who is presiding over a number of investigations targeting İmamoğlu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
He was facing a prison sentence of more than seven years in addition to a political ban in line with Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).
The court handed İmamoğlu a prison sentence of 17 months for insulting a public official and two months for issuing a threat. Under Turkish law, if the sentence is upheld by an appeals court, İmamoğlu will be banned from holding public office.
The court’s verdicts against İmamoğlu were reached by a majority vote. One member of the panel of judges dissented, voting for his acquittal on all charges.
The mayor, seen as the strongest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was arrested on March 23 on corruption charges, widely seen as politically motivated. His detention on March 19 led to widespread protests unseen in Turkey since the anti-government protests of 2013.
In his January speech at a panel discussion titled “Modern Law and the Politicization of the Judiciary,” İmamoğlu criticized the detention of CHP youth branch chairman Cem Aydın, who had been taken in for questioning back then, with many police officers arriving at his door.
He said the aim of the detention was to intimidate his party while vowing that such practices will be avoided during his party’s rule.
“You want to intimidate us. But look here, Chief Prosecutor, I’m telling you, we’ll rid the minds of our people of the ideology you represent, so that no one ever comes to your children’s doors at dawn,” he said, referring to Gürlek.
İmamoğlu and the CHP accuse Gürlek of using his judicial authority to target the party on orders from President Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
Gürlek previously served as a deputy justice minister and is known for overseeing high-profile political trials, raising concerns about his impartiality.
Prosecutors claimed İmamoğlu’s remarks constituted a threat and that he had targeted Gürlek and his family. They launched an investigation on the same day, accusing him with threatening a public official and targeting individuals involved in counterterrorism.
The indictment was accepted in February, with the first hearing held April 11 and the second on June 16.
İmamoğlu reiterated in his final defense on Wednesday, claiming that the charges against him were politically motivated and sparked by his successive electoral wins against President Erdoğan and his party.
“All I am is a threat to one person in this beautiful country,” İmamoğlu said, referring to President and AKP leader Erdoğan. “And even then, it’s not me. He’s threatened by the people. I’ve beaten him at the ballot box four times, and I’m a threat because I’ll beat him a fifth.”
İmamoğlu won the elections in İstanbul twice in 2019, when the first election result was contested by Erdoğan’s party on the grounds that there were irregularities. He was re-elected in the local polls last year in a development that dashed Erdoğan’s hopes to take back the city from the opposition.
During Wednesday’s hearing, a brief but tense exchange erupted in court when the prosecutor objected to İmamoğlu speaking directly to him. “Am I not allowed to look at the prosecutor?” İmamoğlu asked the judge. “Am I not allowed to ask questions?” The confrontation led to raised voices in the courtroom.
“I am under intense attack as someone subjected to judicial harassment,” İmamoğlu said.
The hearing was attended by a large delegation of opposition figures. Among them were CHP leader Özgür Özel, CHP İstanbul provincial chair Özgür Çelik, İstanbul acting mayor Nuri Aslan, several CHP lawmakers and district mayors, Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) leader Erkan Baş, Union of Turkish Bar Associations President Erinç Sağkan and İstanbul Bar Association Chair İbrahim Kaboğlu.
İmamoğlu faces multiple investigations and was sentenced to more than two years in prison and barred from politics in December 2022 for allegedly insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK). The mayor has appealed his sentence, which is still pending.
His party has been under a harsh crackdown for about a year that has so far led to the arrest of 17 CHP mayors and dozens of party officials.
Meanwhile, the mayor of İstanbul’s Şile district, one of the many who have recently been arrested, was removed from his post by the interior ministry.
The ministry announced on Wednesday that Şile Mayor Özgür Kabadayı has been suspended from office amid an ongoing investigation into allegations of bribery and membership in a criminal organization.
Kabadayı was arrested on June 14.
The crackdown on opposition figures has intensified since the arrest of İmamoğlu. Critics say the sweeping probes are aimed at weakening the opposition and consolidating power ahead of a potential snap election.
