BEYOND THE BOSPORUS: Imamoglu, jailed challenger to Erdogan, given 3 minutes per criminal charge to defend himself
Elected mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition politician jailed before he could step up his campaign to end the grip of Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Turkey’s presidency, on July 13 launched a blistering attack on the country’s judiciary from his prison cell.
From Silivri prison, Imamoglu warned that Turkey faces a "multifaceted judicial collapse" that will silence political dissent ahead of future elections.
In an AI-generated video message targeted at young voters, Imamoglu – who would be widely expected to defeat Turkish leader of 23 years Erdogan in a head-to-head contest – explained the tight constraints he faces in his ongoing trial over supposed extensive corruption in his Istanbul municipal administration. The court, he said, has severely restricted his ability to defend himself against a mountain of state accusations.
Three minutes per charge
Imamoglu revealed how the court has allocated a single session of seven to eight hours for his entire defence. The time must be divided up between himself, three defence lawyers and cross-examinations conducted by judges, prosecutors and co-defendants.
"They tell me, 'make your defence'. They expect a defence in this timeframe against 143 criminal charges and a 4,000-page pile of nonsense," said Imamoglu.
"Under this schedule, I am being given barely three minutes to defend myself against each charge levelled against me. They make it so hopeless, the prosecution has no questions to ask me and neither does the court panel. Their only required path is to prevent a defence so that no one hears Ekrem."
Case “architect” Erdogan is “afraid”
The massive trial has become a flashpoint in Turkish politics. The first hearing commenced in March, as the court moved to deal with more than 400 defendants. After three months, the court insisted that it would end the first hearing on July 9, even as Imamoglu, accused of being the leader of a gang of organised criminals, awaited his moment as the last defendant to present his defence.
Remarked Imamoglu: “Erdogan, who is afraid of both live broadcasts and his [political] rival, and is the architect of all these [prosecution] files, has gone down in history as the perpetrator of the pinnacle of this lawlessness organised by the justice minister [Akin Gurlek], who is a candidate to be his successor, and as the perpetrator of the legal ‘murder’ committed in every judicial process.”
Judicial collapse threatens all
He added: “Turkey is facing a many-sided threat of judicial collapse. The threat does not discriminate, it is a threat to businessmen, artists, journalists, dissidents, students, politicians, mayors and presidential candidates.
“Practices that disregard everyone's rights and freedoms loom over our nation. The justice ministry has been turned into a 'ministry of collapse'. With phrases like 'the bigger radish is still in the saddlebag' [a Turkish proverb somewhat equivalent to “The worst is yet to come”—Ed.] or 'the arms of the octopus', I don't know for the how-many-eth time but I think there is deceit with Erdogan once again."
Jarring silence of world leaders who came and went
Imamoglu – speaking in the week that brought the 10th anniversary of the failed coup attempt that foreshadowed Erdogan’s huge crackdown on opponents in all fields up and down the country – concluded: “While Turkey was experiencing this judicial disgrace, world leaders [attending the Nato leaders’ summit in Ankara] came and went.
“What was the result? [Donald] Trump said: 'I can't say Erdogan is friends with [Benjamin] Netanyahu, but he left Israel alone, he is a wonderful ally. They [Turkey] have the largest land forces [in Nato apart from those of the US] ready to fight'.”
No comments:
Post a Comment