İmamoğlu calls for justice for Ümit Özdağ ahead of trial: 'Deliberate prolongation of the process'

Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ, who was detained in Ankara on January 20 and arrested on January 21 due to his remarks regarding AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan during his speech at the Zafer Party Provincial Chairmen Consultation Meeting in Antalya on January 19, will appear before a judge tomorrow.

Ekrem İmamoğlu issued a call for justice for Ümit Özdağ from the account named 'Presidential Candidate Office', which was opened following the closure of his previous account. 

Ekrem İmamoğlu's social media post is as follows:

"Politics cannot be designed by using the law as a tool.

Politicians and political party leaders are being arrested on fabricated grounds and kept in prison for months or even years, turning the trial process itself into a form of punishment.

Politicians defeat their rivals at the ballot box, not through fabricated court cases. Ideas compete with ideas, and the nation makes the decision.

It is essential that Zafer Party Chairman Mr. Ümit Özdağ's detention be ended at tomorrow's hearing and that the shadow of the ruling power over the judicial units be cast off. The deliberate prolongation of the trial process and the transformation of detention pending trial into a standard procedure is an injustice."

News Source: 12punto