Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu on Monday was handed another judicial investigation after he criticized legal probes into opposition-run municipalities.
News of the investigation came minutes after Imamoğlu, who is seen as a likely future presidential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accused a legal expert of serving as a political tool to oppress the opposition.
At a news conference, Imamoğlu said the same expert witness had been appointed for several judicial probes into him and other district municipalities in Istanbul run by the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), to which Imamoğlu belongs.
“The man is bold enough to fool the courts,” Imamoğlu said, naming the expert specifically.
The government dismisses accusations of political interference in the cases and says the judiciary is independent.
The expert witness spoke out against Imamoğlu’s accusations hours later.
“They’re lying about me serving in cases only against the CHP. Nobody can bind me, let alone in CHP-related cases. I served in cases against the AK Party and the MHP,” the witness said, referring to Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party. “I am absolutely not the chosen person.”
The new investigation comes a week after a judicial probe was launched against Imamoğlu for “statements qualifying as threats” against Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor and his family, as well as “targeting persons tasked with countering threats and terrorism.”
The CHP has singled out the prosecutor for acting as a “guillotine” for Erdoğan following the arrest of Rıza Akpolat, the CHP mayor for the city’s Beşiktaş district, on charges of corruption.
Imamoğlu has already been sentenced in 2022 for insulting public officials when he criticized a decision to cancel the first round of earlier municipal elections, in which he defeated the ruling AK Party candidate.
He appealed against the sentence, but if higher courts upheld it, he could be banned from politics for five years.
He was re-elected as mayor last year when Erdoğan’s ruling AK Party saw voter support dive in previous strongholds.
Last week, Erdoğan hit out at the CHP, saying they “cannot make threats on live television.”
“Nobody can threaten judicial members, put pressure on the courts or wag their fingers at our judicial committee for pursuing unlawfulness with the authority granted by law,” Erdoğan said.
