No trial, just punishment

News Centre

Ekrem İmamoğlu, the detained Mayor of İstanbul and CHP presidential candidate, appeared in court for the second hearing of his trial for his remarks against İstanbul Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek. While İmamoğlu physically attended the hearing in Silivri, numerous lawyers, party representatives and citizens were also in Silivri to follow the trial. In his defence, İmamoğlu said, "The country is burning. The economy has collapsed. The people are hopeless. Children are crying. But you are still pursuing punishment. My image is banned, my voice is banned, social media is banned... But know that you cannot erase me from the hearts of the people." The trial was postponed until 16 July.

CHP leader Özgür Özel also attended the hearing. After defending himself for approximately 55 minutes, İmamoğlu reacted when the gendarmerie tried to remove him from the courtroom during a 5-minute break for an interim decision, saying, ‘I don't want to leave, take me by force,’ and sat back down. When the audience applauded his statement, “Know that you cannot erase me from the hearts of this nation,” the judge warned that he might have to clear the courtroom. İmamoğlu also spoke with journalists, commenting on his weight loss, “Let people’s bodies weaken, but not their character,” and describing CHP leader Chairman Özgür Özel as “a leader as precious as a diamond.”

GREETED WITH SLOGANS

Meanwhile, it emerged that the indictment had been filed three days before the trial. İmamoğlu faces up to seven years and four months in prison on three charges, as well as a ‘political ban.’ Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was brought to the courtroom, was greeted standing by the audience and members of parliament. The audience chanted slogans such as ‘Turkey is proud of you,’ ‘Everything will be beautiful,’ and ‘Welcome, Mr. President’ in the courtroom.

The trial began with İmamoğlu's statement in response to the prosecutor's opinion. İmamoğlu began his speech by commemorating Ferdi Zeyrek, the mayor of Manisa Metropolitan Municipality who had passed away, saying, "I couldn't be there for him. I prayed for him, may he rest in peace. He left us with a lesson. Hundreds of thousands of people mourned him, and he walked into eternity with grace. In just 14 months, he won the hearts of our nation. Hundreds of thousands of people expressed their longing for a leader who did not discriminate between you and me."

Criticising the decision to hold his trial in Silivri instead of Çağlayan, İmamoğlu asked, “I have been here for nearly 90 days, unjustly and unlawfully imprisoned. Why are my friends and I being held captive because of these operations that have caused great material and moral damage to Turkey and harmed its international reputation?” “Why is the country being made to pay this price? I will continue to shout out the answer to this question, which has nothing to do with the law. I am here because I won three elections against the mentality that says whoever wins Istanbul wins Turkey," said İmamoğlu, noting that he was detained for standing against corruption, rent-seeking, and lies, and for running for president.

İmamoğlu continued his remarks as follows: “From here, I ask our nation once again: Are we being tried? No! We have been imprisoned for 90 days, and some of us for 250 days; we are being subjected to judicial harassment. We are facing psychological torture and enemy law. We are being held captive by conspiracies, slander, perception operations, false testimonies from secret witnesses, and the slander of people with criminal pasts. This is not a trial; it is direct punishment.”

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled “Yargılama yok cezalandırma var” published in BirGün newspaper on June 17, 2025.