Jailed Istanbul mayor denies insulting prosecutor in court

Istanbul: Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the main rival of Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, appeared before a court on Friday for the first time since his high-profile arrest last month, over earlier and separate accusations of insulting a prosecutor.

The hearing was held inside a courthouse-prison complex in Istanbul's Silivri district where Imamoglu is currently being detained. It centres on charges that he insulted and threatened the chief Istanbul prosecutor.

Imamoglu denied the accusations in court.

"I am here because I won three elections in Istanbul - a city someone once called 'my beloved Istanbul', a city about which they said 'who wins Istanbul wins Turkey', and a city they thought they owned," he said, in an apparent reference to past remarks made by Erdogan and his ruling AK Party.

"I am here because I am the president in the hearts of 86 million people," he said, referring to the nation's population.

The mayor was jailed last month pending trial over unrelated charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist group, a move that triggered mass protests, a sharp selloff in Turkish assets and broad accusations of a politicised judiciary.

In Friday's hearing, prosecutors sought a prison sentence of up to seven years and four months over remarks Imamoglu made earlier this year criticizing Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akin Gurlek.

The indictment, filed by the terror crimes unit of the chief prosecutor's office, accuses him of attempting to intimidate Gurlek. The court later scheduled the next hearing in the case for June 16.

Imamoglu, who was chosen as the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) future presidential candidate, has denied wrongdoing in all the cases against him, saying they are politically motivated.

The CHP has said the arrests of numerous CHP mayors since late last year are part of a broader campaign to neutralize elected opposition officials ahead of any future elections.

The government has rejected those claims and says the judiciary is independent.

Nearly 220 demonstrations have taken place across Turkey in the 10 days since Imamoglu's arrest, with dozens met by police intervention, said Nasser Khdour, Middle East assistant research manager at ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data).

"The government has dismissed claims of political persecution, but bans on gatherings in major cities and the detention of nearly 1,900 people - including journalists and opposition figures - highlight growing unrest and dissatisfaction with Erdogan's administration," he told Reuters.