Istanbul’s mayor goes on trial with 400 defendants in corruption case

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is standing trial on Monday with more than 400 other defendants accused of widespread corruption in a case critics see as a politically motivated move against Turkiye’s opposition.

Imamoglu, who has been behind bars for nearly a year, is the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 23-year rule. He was elected as the main opposition party’s candidate for an election due in 2028, just days after he was detained. Most of the 402 defendants worked for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, headed by Imamoglu since 2019. Many are elected officials from the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, while journalists are also among the accused. Imamoglu’s arrest on March 19 last year sparked weeks of street protests, the largest seen in Turkiye for more than a decade.

He faces 142 charges, including establishing the “Imamoglu criminal organisation for profit” from 2015, when he was mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikduzu district. The 3,900-page indictment alleges the goal was not just to enrich the accused through a system of bid-rigging and pay-offs but also to finance Imamoglu’s rise in the CHP, ultimately resulting in his presidential candidacy.