Turkey: Several mayors sentenced to prison

 

TT-AFP

Published 20.06

 

Demonstration in support of now sentenced ex-mayor Riza Akpolat when he was arrested last year. Archive photo. Photo: Emrah Gurel/AP/TT

A number of Turkish mayors, all of whom belong to opposition parties, have been sentenced to longer prison terms.

Riza Akpolat, mayor of the Besiktas district of Istanbul, has been sentenced to 23 years and 3 months in prison for, among other things, bribery and money laundering.

– I am innocent. There is no evidence, everything is based on witness statements from my detractors, he said after the verdict.

Akpolat, who was dismissed by the Interior Ministry when he was arrested last year, was one of at least five mayors who received prison sentences on Monday. What the convicted have in common is that they belong to Turkey's largest opposition party, the CHP. The other convicted received sentences of just over eight years at most.

All were involved in a huge legal case where around 200 people were accused of being members of a criminal network.