A Turkish court sentenced the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu on Wednesday December 14 to two years, seven months and fifteen days in prison. A figure of the opposition, he was prosecuted for “insult” towards the members of the High Electoral Council. Ekrem İmamoğlu is seen as a potential rival to President Erdoğan in the next election in June 2023. The opposition lambastes a political decision in chorus.
With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer
This decision is not final, Ekrem İmamoğlu’s lawyers will challenge it on appeal. But it is a condemnation very heavy with political meaning.
If the sentence is confirmed, Ekrem İmamoğlu will not be imprisoned, but he will be banned from political life. He will therefore be stripped of his seat as mayor, and unable to stand against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The wildly popular mayor of Turkey’s biggest city, who is increasingly hiding his presidential ambitions, was accused of calling “ idiots », so to have « insult » the members of the High Electoral Council who had invalidated his victory in the March 2019 elections.
Ekrem İmamoğlu has always claimed that his remarks were aimed at the Minister of Interior, Süleyman Soylu, who himself called him “ idiot “. He won the election again in June 2019, with 786,000 votes more than in the first vote. This result, President Erdoğan had experienced it as a personal humiliation.
In his first reaction, Ekrem İmamoğlu was combative, assuring that “ some people cannot take over a function granted by the people “. And adding: Our struggle begins with even greater force. »
►To re-read: Turkey: an indictment claims four years in prison against the mayor of Istanbul