Facing trial since March 9 on corruption-related charges, which he denies, opposition Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has today been targeted by a new investigation that began after statements he made the day before his trial.
“In this case, there is a single criminal organization, it is the indictment,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rival said at a hearing at the court in Silivri (west of Istanbul) prison, where he has been imprisoned for more than a year.
This morning, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it has opened an investigation against Imamoglu, who already faces up to 2 years in prison.430 years for the offence of “insulting a public official due to his duties.”
Arrested on March 19, 2025, the Istanbul mayor, considered the politician with the best chance of winning the upcoming presidential election, was placed in temporary detention on the same day that his party, the CHP (the social democratic Republican People’s Party), nominated him as its candidate for that election.
The judiciary accused Imamoglu, who was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019 and re-elected in 2024, of running a huge “multi-platform” network, as he described it.
A total of 107 defendants, who were initially placed in temporary custody, will have to appear during the trial, of which the mayor is the main defendant.
On Friday, April 3, 18 of the defendants, including the director of Imamoglu’s office, were conditionally released without charges against them being dropped.
