Enlarge image
Ekrem Imamoğlu: Ban on politics
Photo: Burak Kara/Getty Images
Ekrem İmamoğlu is considered a possible opponent of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in next year's presidential election in Turkey.
But a court on Wednesday sentenced the mayor of Istanbul to two years and seven months in prison and a ban on politics.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has now condemned the verdict as a "politically calculated attack" on the Turkish opposition.
The verdict shows that the government is willing to "abuse courts to marginalize or silence key opposition figures," says Tom Porteus, deputy HRW program director: "The verdict not only violates İmamoğlu's rights, but also denies the voters of Istanbul their rights if it deprives them of their elected representative.«
İmamoğlu's crime according to the verdict: He is said to have called members of the High Electoral Council idiots after the cancellation of the 2019 local elections.
The 52-year-old from the largest opposition party, the CHP, is considered Erdoğan's most important domestic opponent.
His supporters consider the verdict to be politically motivated.
İmamoğlu still in office
Until the verdict is final, İmamoğlu can continue in office.
Only then will he lose his post as mayor.
In that case, he should also not stand as a candidate for the parliamentary and presidential elections, which will be held in June next year at the latest.
İmamoğlu is traded as one of the possible candidates against Erdoğan.
The Federal Foreign Office had condemned the verdict against İmamoğlu on Wednesday as a "severe setback for democracy".
The Greens member of the Bundestag, Max Lucks, also criticized the verdict against Imamoğlu with sharp words: »My good friend Ekrem Imamoğlu has already been elected mayor twice by the people of Istanbul.
The verdict shows Erdoğan's fear of losing the presidential and parliamentary elections next year," Lucks told SPIEGEL.
The 52-year-old won the mayoral election in Istanbul in 2019.
The election of İmamoğlu was a painful defeat for the Turkish president and his conservative Islamic party, the AKP.
ptz/dpa
