Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu sentenced to 20 months in prison for threatening a prosecutor

An Istanbul court found the city's mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, guilty of publicly insulting and threatening the chief prosecutor of Istanbul and sentenced him to 1 year and 8 months in prison. This was reported by... reports CNN's Turkish service.

According to the prosecution, İmamoğlu allegedly committed a crime against Istanbul's chief prosecutor Akin Gürlek and his family during a panel discussion on January 20.

The prosecution demanded that he be found guilty of "public insult to a public official in the performance of his official duties," "threats," and "assault on persons involved in the fight against terrorism" and sentenced to a term of up to 7 years and 4 months.

The court partially granted these demands, acquitting Imamoglu of the charge of assault. For the other two counts, he received a total sentence of 1 year and 8 months imprisonment.

During the trial, İmamoğlu accused his political opponents of interfering in the court's proceedings.

"This is a court. There should be no political interference here. Those who act under political influence will face not threats and insults, but the consequences of their actions for our country. I will continue to oppose the abuse of the judicial system and its use as a political tool," he stated.

• March 19, 2025, the Turkish prosecutor's office detained the mayor of Istanbul, who is an opponent of Erdogan on suspicion of corruption and supporting terrorism. After that, Turkey was shaken by... Large-scale protests – Thousands of people took to the streets.
• The mayor of Istanbul was arrested on March 24. was nominated as a presidential candidate In Turkey, he was suspended from his duties as mayor in the same month.
• The verdict in the main Imamoglu case has not yet been delivered.