Sawt Falasteen - Istanbul mayor ejected from court in corruption case

Television channel T24 said on X that the 55-year-old politician, considered to be the main opposition challenger to Turkey's veteran President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had been "expelled from the courtroom... for disrupting order and discipline".

Imamoglu has been in custody since March last year and has been appearing at a prison court since March this year with 414 co-defendants, 59 of whom are also in detention.

His lawyer, Tora Pakin, described the decision, as NATO leaders gathered for a summit in the capital, Ankara, "abritrary" and "contrary to law".

His client was first removed from court last week after being accused of disrupting proceedings during a heated exchange with the presiding judge about the order and schedule of defence arguments.

"I did not come here to be questioned. I came to express my demands," he said before the judge ordered his removal, the opposition-leaning Bir Gun newspaper reported.

Before leaving, he reportedly told them: "With the leaders of the entire world present in Turkey, in Ankara, how and to whom will you explain that Ekrem Imamoglu is being silenced?

"The idea that 'Ekrem Imamoglu's defence needs to be completed in full on July 9' is inexplicable," he added, according to independent journalist Furkan Karabay, who has followed the hearings.

"The ministry of justice is a ministry of collapse," the mayor was quoted as saying.

- 'Sham' -

The judge announced on Tuesday that the mayor would be called to present his defence on Wednesday. He warned that he "could again be removed if he disrupts the proper conduct of the hearing".

Imamoglu was arrested on the day he was nominated as the opposition CHP candidate in presidential elections in 2028.

CHP president-elect Ozgur Ozel, who attended the hearing, called it "a sham".

"Nothing about this case is acceptable; even the worst courts at least try to pretend to be courts but here they don't even bother with that," he told television channels.

In a statement published on his X account, Imamoglu denounced what he said was a "very serious violation of (his) rights and the height of injustice".

"The court is restricting and ignoring the arguments presented in their defence by the people most heavily targeted by the indictment and by their lawyers," he added.

"This proves that the entire Istanbul metropolitan authority case has collapsed and is turning into a series of extrajudicial decisions."

In the run-up to the NATO summit of 36 heads of state and government, the Turkish authorities have tried to crack down on critical voices, with widespread arrests.

Imamoglu, who was re-elected in March 2024 as mayor of Turkey's biggest city, denies having led a vast criminal network.

He is facing 142 charges and risks a sentence of 2,430 years in prison if convicted.

A.AbuSaada--SF-PST