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TurkeyErdogan’s potential rival sidelined
The court sentenced opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu to two years in prison, de facto banning him from political activity.
File photo: Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu speaks during an interview, April 2, 2020, in Istanbul.
AFP
Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was sentenced to more than two years and seven months in prison, effectively barring him from any political office, for ‘insulting’ Turkish officials, verdict says delivered on Wednesday.
Mr. Imamoglu immediately decided to appeal this sentence, announced his lawyer, Mr. Kemal Polat. The appeal will be suspensive, he said, meaning Mr Imamoglu will retain his term as mayor while the appeal is considered.
The verdict handed down by an Istanbul court adds to Mr. Imamoglu’s prison sentence a “deprivation of certain rights”, including that of eligibility, for the same duration as the prison sentence, the lawyers said. If the sentence is confirmed on appeal, “the ban on political activity will be for the same duration as the sentence imposed”, underlined the lawyer.
“Tragicomic”
The 52-year-old mayor is seen as a potential candidate for the June 2023 presidential election against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The city councilor, a member of the CHP (social democrat), the main opposition party to Mr. Erdogan’s power, was accused of having described as “idiots” the members of the electoral college which had invalidated his election in March 2019 , as well as Interior Minister Souleyman Soylu.
Several hundred supporters of the mayor, gathered in front of the Municipality of Istanbul, immediately demanded “Government, Resign!” and chanted “Droit, Loi, Justice”. Mr. Imamoglu had called on the people of Istanbul to meet at midday pending the verdict. The mayor has always professed his “confidence in Turkish justice”, denouncing a “political affair” and admitting to being “ashamed of this trial”. “There can be no such judgment. It’s tragicomic,” he said last month.
(AFP)