İmamoğlu sentenced over remarks against prosecutor
ISTANBUL
Jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison on July 16 in a case concerning remarks he made about Istanbul's chief prosecutor Akın Gürlek.
The court acquitted İmamoğlu of the charge of "targeting individuals working in the fight against terrorism," but convicted him of "insulting a public official," sentencing him to one year and five months.
He received an additional two months and 15 days for threatening, bringing the total sentence to one year and eight months. The ruling does not include a political ban.
The hearing in Istanbul was attended by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel and several party members.
İmamoğlu had been on trial for allegedly targeting, insulting and threatening Gürlek following comments made during a January 20 speech, in which he criticized legal actions taken against CHP youth wing leader Cem Aydın.
"The chief prosecutor, I am telling you... We will uproot the minds that govern you from the minds of this nation to save even your children from these treatments," İmamoğlu had said. "We will uproot it so that no one will come to your children's doorstep."
He had faced up to seven years and four months in prison, along with disqualification from public office and the loss of voting rights.
"There is no such isolation in the history of the Turkish republic. There is an Ekrem İmamoğlu who is silenced, prevented from speaking and feared for his photo. This is precisely the issue," the ousted mayor said in his defense.
İmamoğlu voiced opposition to what he sees as the politicization of the judiciary and condemned the detention of his lawyer, Mehmet Pehlivan.
He was arrested in a corruption probe on March 23, the same day he was declared CHP's presidential candidate for the next elections.
