Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday launched their latest investigation into İstanbul’s jailed opposition Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a prominent rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on allegations of “insulting a public official,” the local prosecutor’s office said.
İmamoğlu is already facing multiple legal cases, including a major trial that opened last month in which he is accused of leading a criminal organization.
The mass trial at the Marmara courthouse in Silivri on İstanbul’s outskirts involves more than 400 defendants, 107 of whom are in detention. The judge on Friday ordered the release of 18 of them pending trial.
During Monday’s hearing, İmamoğlu reportedly took the floor and said, “There is only one criminal organization in this case. It is the prosecution.” The remark prompted an immediate reaction from prosecutors.
“An investigation has been launched by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for the crime of ‘insulting a public official in the performance of their duty’ due to the words allegedly spoken by the defendant Ekrem İmamoğlu during the hearing on April 6,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement posted on X.
İmamoğlu was arrested in March of last year on a series of charges widely viewed by the opposition as an attempt to derail his prospects of challenging Erdoğan at the ballot box.
He has been held in pretrial detention since then. Prosecutors are seeking a cumulative sentence of up to 2,430 years, a move rights groups say highlights the “weaponization” of Turkey’s judiciary to sideline political opponents.
The proceedings have been marked from the outset by tense exchanges between the judge, defense lawyers and journalists, with repeated disputes over access and seating arrangements inside the Silivri courthouse.
© Agence France-Presse