MADRID, 11 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Turkish Prosecutor’s Office has requested this Friday four years in prison and a disqualification sentence for the mayor of the city of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, for allegedly insulting several high-ranking government officials.
If found guilty and sentenced to a year or more, Imamoglu, considered one of the main political rivals of the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the face of the 2023 elections, will have to resign, according to information. from the daily ‘Sozcu’.
However, Justice has postponed the reading of the verdict until December 14, as confirmed since its formation, the People’s Republican Party (CHP).
The mayor has been accused of calling members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council “fools” during a speech in 2019, according to court documents, although he has denied the charges against him.
Imamoglu narrowly won the Istanbul Mayor’s office in the March 2019 election, running against an Erdogan ally. The results were rejected by the relevant authorities and, after a new vote was held in June 2019, he won with a larger margin.
