The prosecutor is seeking a prison sentence of up to seven years and four months and deprivation of his political rights for the detained mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, regarding statements he made against the head of the Istanbul General Prosecutor's Office. This case predates the cases that led to his arrest on March 19 and is not directly related to them.
Ekrem Imamoglu, who is being held in Silivri prison, west of Istanbul, appeared before the court today accused of targeting the chief prosecutor of the Istanbul General Prosecutor's Office, Akin Gurlek.
“I am here, in this dungeon, because I won Istanbul three times against this mentality. I am here because we exercised pro-people local government for 16 million people. I am here because I was the guardian of Istanbul. I am here because, for the first time in world history, I was elected as a presidential candidate with 15,5 million votes in the primary elections,” Imamoglu said. “Are we being judged? They are not being judged, they are being punished directly,” he added.
Ekrem İmamoğlu arrived in the courtroom to applause and slogans, while in the audience were, among others, the chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) to which he belongs, Özgür Özel, and his wife Dilek İmamoğlu.
After reading the prosecution's motion, the court decided to continue the trial on July 16.
The prosecutorial investigation against Ekrem İmamoğlu in this case was ordered on January 20 for statements he made in a television interview about Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akin Gürlek and his family. The 43-year-old Gürlek, initially as a judge and then as a prosecutor, played a significant role in major trials involving prosecutions of opposition figures, including the conviction of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Justice Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and the prosecutions of İmamoğlu and CHP mayors in Istanbul's regional municipalities. He had previously served as deputy justice minister.
An ex officio prosecutorial investigation into separate statements against prosecutor Akin Gurlek was also launched last month against its chairman, Özgür Özel, on charges of “threatening a judicial officer with the aim of obstructing the execution of his duties” and “publicly insulting a public official.” At a CHP rally in Istanbul’s Gaziosmanpaşa district on June 4, the leader of the main opposition made harsh statements against Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akin Gurlek regarding the arrest of five CHP mayors, as part of the expansion of the indictment in the main corruption case against imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The CHP leader had previously described Akin Gürlek as a "walking guillotine."
Source: protothema.gr
