The prosecutor is seeking a sentence of up to seven years and four months in prison and deprivation of civil rights for the jailed Constantinople mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, regarding his statements against the head of the Constantinople General Prosecutor’s Office. This case predates the cases that led to his arrest on 19 March and is not directly related to them.

Ekrem Imamoglu, who is being held in Silivria Prison, west of Constantinople, appeared before the court today accused of targeting the Constantinople General Prosecutor’s Office archivist Akin Gourlek.

“I am here, in this dungeon, because I won Constantinople three times against this mentality. I am here because we practiced pro-people local government for 16 million people. I am here because I was the guardian of Constantinople. I am here because, for the first time in world history, I was elected as a presidential candidate with 15.5 million votes in the primaries,” Imamoglu said. “Are we on trial? They are not trying us, they are directly punishing us,” he added.

Ekrem Imamoglu arrived in the courtroom to applause and chants, while the audience included the chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) to which he belongs, Ozgur Ozel, and his wife Dilek Imamoglu, among others.

After reading the prosecution’s proposal, the court decided to continue the trial on July 16.

The prosecutor’s investigation against Ekrem Imamoglu in the case was ordered on January 20 for his statements in an interview on a TV show, concerning the head of the Constantinople Prosecutor’s Office, Akin Gürlek, and his family. As a judge initially and a prosecutor afterwards, 43-year-old Gyurlek played an important role in major trials involving prosecutions against opposition figures, including the conviction of pro-Kurdish People’s Justice Party (HDP) co-chairman Selahatin Demirtas and the prosecutions against Imamoglu as well as CHP mayors in Constantinople’s regional municipalities. He previously served as deputy minister of justice.

A self-investigation into separate statements against prosecutor Akin Gürlek was also launched last month against Ozghur Özel, the chairman of the Ozgurel, on charges of “threatening a judicial official with the aim of preventing him from performing his duties” and “publicly insulting a public official.” At a CHP rally in Constantinople’s Gaziosmanpasa district on June 4, the opposition leader made harsh statements against Istanbul’s Chief Prosecutor General Akin Gyurlek over the arrest of five CHP mayors, as part of the broadening of the indictment in the main corruption case launched against jailed Constantinople Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. The CHP leader had previously described Akin Gürlek as a “roving guillotine.”