Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a rival of Erdogan, sentenced to more than 2 years in
prison and imposed a political ban for insulting public
officials, in a ruling set to go to an appeal. In his 2019 local-election victory speech, he said those who annulled the vote were "fools". Context: Imamoglu said he will appeal his conviction which would potentially extend the case beyond the elex due June 2023. Imamoglu made those remarks to reporters a few months after defeating Erdogan's ally in a re-run of local election held after his first victory was annulled