Trial of Ekrem İmamoğlu
The Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu was put on trial for having insulted a public official. He was accused of calling the ones who canceled the Istanbul mayoral election of March 2019 "fools". The first hearing was in January 2022 and in December 2022 he was sentenced to 2 years, 7 months, and 15 days imprisonment and given a political ban in accordance with Article 53 of the Turkish Criminal Code. İmamoğlu has appealed the verdict, and his ban from politics does not apply as long as he is pending trial. Background Ekrem İmamoğlu won the mayoral elections of Istanbul in March and June 2019. The first victory in March was canceled by the High Election Board (YSK) and a new election an organized for June. This election Imamoglu won again, that time with a larger margin. In November 2019 Imamoglu answered a question of reporter over the Minister of the Interior calling him a "fool" for criticizing the dismissal of elected mayors of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) and their replacement with appointed trustees before the Council of Europe. He answered that those responsible for cancelling the first mayoral elections of Istanbul in March 2019 were "foolish" as it