A Turkish prosecutor requested on Friday that a court convict and impose a political ban on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a popular rival of President Tayyip Erdogan, for insulting public officials, but the case was adjourned to December, Reuters reports.
Polls show Imamoglu would be a strong challenger to Erdogan if he were to run in next year's national elections. A main opposition presidential candidate has not yet been chosen.
Imamoglu narrowly won the municipal election in March 2019 over Erdogan's ruling AK Party candidate. After those results were annulled, he won the vote rerun by a comfortable margin. His victory ended the 25-year rule in Turkey's largest city by the AKP and its Islamist predecessors.
Imamoglu is accused of insulting public officials in a speech he made in 2019, in which he said those who annulled the elections were "fools." The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of four years.
A jail sentence or political ban would need to be upheld by any appeal courts, potentially extending beyond the election set for no later than June 2023.
The court adjourned the case on Friday to evaluate a defence lawyer's request that the judge be recused. It set the next hearing for Dec. 14.
"The (prosecutor's) opinion being produced without reviewing our judge recusal request is against judicial proceeding norms and shows that they came prepared with the ruling," said Gokhan Gunaydin, a lawyer for Imamoglu.
Police officers sealed off roads approaching the courthouse on the Asian side of Istanbul, after a district governor banned protests in the area for the day.
