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Accused of 142 criminal offenses/ Turkey seeks over 2,000 years in prison for Istanbul mayor

2025-11-11 19:40:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Accused of 142 criminal offenses/ Turkey seeks over 2,000 years in prison for

Istanbul's prosecutor has charged the city's prominent mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, with 142 corruption charges, which could carry sentences ranging from 828 to 2,352 years in prison. Imamoglu, considered a key political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been in custody since March on corruption charges.

The Istanbul mayor and his opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deny any wrongdoing and accuse the president and his allies of launching a crackdown in response to Erdogan's falling popularity.

However, the city's chief prosecutor has targeted not only Imamoglu, but also 401 other people, with accusations of running a criminal corruption network with the mayor as its "founder and leader."

After an eight-month investigation, prosecutor Akin Gürlek said the suspects, 105 of whom were in custody, had formed a large criminal organization that was engaged in bribery as well as money laundering. Gürlek said the cost of the losses to the Turkish state amounted to 160 billion lira (£2.9 billion, $3.8 billion).

The mayor's arrest in March sparked widespread protests and hundreds of arrests. He has been held in Marmara prison on the outskirts of Istanbul since then. In addition to the corruption case, prosecutors have charged him with a range of other criminal offences, including espionage and forging a university degree, a qualification that was later revoked.

Turkish authorities deny the mayor's claim that the judicial system is being used as a political tool. Imamoglu, 54, was first elected mayor in 2019 and re-elected in April 2024, defeating the ruling AK Party candidate by almost a million votes.

He has already appealed against a one-year and eight-month prison sentence in July for insulting and threatening the Istanbul prosecutor. He is also appealing against a previous prison sentence for criticizing election officials. /CNA





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