Jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, was removed from court again on Wednesday during the latest hearing in his corruption trial, according to the T24 news website.
T24 reported on X that İmamoğlu, 55, had been “removed from the courtroom … for disrupting order and discipline.”
İmamoğlu has been in pretrial detention since March 2025 and is being tried with 414 co-defendants, 59 of whom are also in detention, in proceedings held at a courtroom inside Marmara Prison in Silivri, west of İstanbul.
His lawyer, Tora Pekin, described the decision, which came as NATO leaders were gathered for a summit in Ankara, as “arbitrary” and “contrary to law.”
İmamoğlu was first removed from court last week after being accused of disrupting proceedings during a heated exchange with the presiding judge about the order and schedule of defense statements.
“I did not come here to be questioned. I came to express my demands,” İmamoğlu said before the judge ordered his removal, according to the opposition-leaning BirGün daily.
Before leaving the courtroom, he reportedly said, “With the leaders of the entire world present in Turkey, in Ankara, how and to whom will you explain that Ekrem İmamoğlu is being silenced?”
“The idea that ‘Ekrem İmamoğlu’s defense needs to be completed in full on July 9’ is inexplicable,” he added, according to independent journalist Furkan Karabay, who has followed the hearings.
“The Ministry of Justice is a ministry of collapse,” İmamoğlu was quoted as saying.
The judge announced on Tuesday that İmamoğlu would be called to present his defense on Wednesday.
He warned that the mayor “could again be removed if he disrupts the proper conduct of the hearing.”
İmamoğlu was jailed in March 2025, on the day he was nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
Court-ousted CHP leader Özgür Özel, who attended the hearing, called the trial “a sham.”
Özel was removed from party leadership after a court annulled the CHP’s 2023 congress, ruling that alleged irregularities in the leadership vote invalidated his election and reinstating former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
“Nothing about this case is acceptable; even the worst courts at least try to pretend to be courts, but here they don’t even bother with that,” Özel told television stations.
In a statement published on X, İmamoğlu denounced what he called a “very serious violation of [his] rights and the height of injustice.”
“The court is restricting and ignoring the arguments presented in their defense by the people most heavily targeted by the indictment and by their lawyers,” he said.
“This proves that the entire İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality case has collapsed and is turning into a series of extrajudicial decisions.”
The hearing took place as Ankara hosted a NATO summit attended by NATO heads of state and government.
In the run-up to the summit, Turkish authorities detained hundreds of people in operations they described as counterterrorism measures, while rights groups accused the government of trying to silence criticism and prevent visible dissent.
İmamoğlu, who was re-elected in March 2024 as mayor of Turkey’s largest city, denies leading what prosecutors describe as a vast criminal network.
He faces 142 charges and could be sentenced to up to 2,430 years in prison if convicted.
© Agence France-Presse