The imprisoned and ousted Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu testified Friday at the opening of a trial over accusations of threatening a public prosecutor – one of several legal cases that could result in a prison sentence and a ban on holding public office.
The trial was then adjourned to June 16, İmamoğlu’s lawyer Kemal Polat told dpa afterwards. Prosecutors seek up to seven years and four months in jail on top of a political ban in the case.
“I am here because I won the elections in Istanbul three times,” İmamoğlu was quoted as saying in court by Cumhuriyet daily.
“I am always someone who reconciles,” he told the court at Istanbul’s high-security Marmara prison, where he is being held in pre-trial detention.
The hearing was recently relocated from central Istanbul to the prison venue outside the city under heavy security measures, a move İmamoğlu’s lawyers say violates the right to public trial.
Later on Friday, İmamoğlu is due to stand trial on separate fraud charges related to his term as mayor of the Istanbul district Beylikdüzü in 2015. He is not expected to attend the hearing in person, his lawyer said.
The 53-year-old opposition politician faces five separate court cases – four of which could end in a political ban – and three ongoing investigations.
Friday’s trials are not related to İmamoğlu’s March 19 arrest on corruption and terrorism charges, which sparked mass protests and marked one of Turkey’s most severe political crises in over a decade.
İmamoğlu is also scheduled to testify as a witness in a third trial targeting his opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Friday.
Widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival, İmamoğlu’s supporters say the trials are part of a broader effort by the government to block him from running in elections.
Turkey’s next presidential vote is scheduled for 2028.
İmamoğlu was first handed a political ban in 2022 for insulting public officials – a verdict still under appeal.
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