Istanbul mayor's 'insult' trial resumes ahead of elections
The Hindu
People who are sentenced to less than four years are rarely put behind bars in Turkey.
Istanbul's popular opposition mayor faced new hearings Wednesday in a politically-charged trial that could bar him from seeking office months before next year's general election.
Prosecutors want to sentence Ekrem Imamoglu to between 15 months and four years in jail over a remark he made after defeating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ally in a hugely controversial 2019 mayoral vote.
People who are sentenced to less than four years are rarely put behind bars in Turkey.
But a conviction would disqualify Imamoglu — one of the brightest stars of Turkey's main secular party — from politics for the duration of the sentence.
Imamoglu would continue serving as Istanbul's mayor while his almost certain appeal wound its way through the courts.
The mayor's team views the trial as Erdogan's personal vendetta against one of his biggest rivals.
"Despite everything, I want to trust the judges, the prosecutors and the decision makers," he said on the eve of Wednesday's third hearing in the trial.
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