Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu received a 20-month prison sentence on Wednesday for insulting and threatening the city’s public prosecutor, according to a court document obtained by Agence France-Presse.
The sentence comprised one year, five months and 15 days for insulting a civil servant, and two months and 15 days for threats, the document showed. The hearing was held at Silivri court and prison complex on Istanbul’s western outskirts, where İmamoğlu has been held since his arrest in March.
İmamoğlu, who appeared in court, denied all allegations. The mayor, Turkey’s leading opposition figure and main rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, maintains he has been targeted due to his plans to challenge Erdoğan in the 2028 presidential elections.
The prosecutor had initially sought up to seven years and four months imprisonment, along with a ban from holding public office. The public office ban, typically imposed for sentences exceeding two years, was not applied.
The case represents one of several lined up against İmamoğlu. He was arrested on 19 March in connection with a corruption investigation and allegations of terrorism links, triggering Turkey’s worst street protests in more than a decade.
İmamoğlu was elected Istanbul mayor in 2019 and re-elected in 2024. The series of charges against him could prevent participation in the 2028 presidential election.
His March arrest sparked demonstrations across Turkey, marking the worst unrest since the 2013 Gezi Park protests, which spread nationwide and faced brutal police suppression.
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