A court in Turkey sentenced the mayor of Istanbul to more than 2.5 years in prison for insulting members of the Central Committee

A court in Turkey sentenced the opposition mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu to 2 years and 7 months of imprisonment for insulting members of the Central Election Commission. He will also be banned from running in the elections.

The BBC writes about it.

Prosecutors demanded that Imamoglu be sentenced to 4 years and 1 month of imprisonment. They consider him guilty of insulting members of the Central Election Commission. Imamoglu himself was not present at the meeting.

In order for this decision to enter into force, it must be confirmed by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Turkey.

The scandal has been going on since 2019. Then in November, during a speech in France, Imamoglu complained that Turkish authorities had pressured the CEC to annul the results of the Istanbul mayoral election. He was answered by the countryʼs Minister of Internal Affairs Suleiman Soylu, who called Imamoglu an "idiot." The next day, Imamoglu replied that idiots are "those who canceled the elections."

The members of the election commission decided that this was an insult to them, and filed a statement with the court. Instead, Imamoglu explained that law enforcement officers and the Minister of Internal Affairs were behind the cancellation of the elections, and his remark was specifically about Soylu.

On March 31, 2019, the first municipal elections in Turkey since 2014 were held. In the mayoral elections of Istanbul, the opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu beat the candidate of the ruling party Binali Yildirim by several thousand votes. The Higher Election Commission of Turkey canceled the results of the Istanbul mayoral elections. The Central Election Commission also decided to hold municipal elections in Istanbul again. Seven out of 11 members of the commission spoke in favor of canceling the election results and holding a second vote. Four members of the commission opposed such a decision. However, Imamoglu won the re-election.

Currently, Imamoglu heads the largest opposition party, the Republican Political Party. He is named as the main likely opponent of incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the June 2023 elections.