A Turkish court on Wednesday rejected requests for the release of jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and three co-defendants in a “political espionage” trial in which they face up to 20 years in prison, Turkish Minute reported, citing the DHA news agency.
The İstanbul 25th High Criminal Court ruled for the continued detention of İmamoğlu, businessman Hüseyin Gün, campaign adviser Necati Özkan and journalist Merdan Yanardağ after a prosecutor requested that all four remain in pretrial detention.
The court adjourned the trial until July 6 and scheduled a detention review for June 11.
The third day of the trial was held near the Marmara Prison Complex in Silivri, west of İstanbul. Defendants and their lawyers completed their defenses on Tuesday, and the prosecutor submitted an opinion on interim measures on Wednesday.
The prosecutor asked the court to keep all four defendants in pretrial detention, arguing that evidence collection had not yet been completed and that judicial supervision measures would be insufficient at this stage.
According to DHA, the court also rejected defense requests to lift an asset freeze imposed on Gün and to end the trusteeship imposed on TELE1, the opposition broadcaster led by Yanardağ before his arrest.
A trustee from Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) had been appointed to the company after Yanardağ’s detention, with TELE1 later put up for sale.
The prosecutor also requested additional information from the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) about IP addresses and server providers used by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
The prosecutor’s opinion further asked that Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the police counterterrorism department examine IP addresses and user information to be obtained from BTK and determine whether email addresses cited in images included in the indictment are genuine.
The indictment seeks prison sentences of up to 20 years for each defendant on espionage-related charges.
The case is based on allegations that Gün, an internationally connected businessman and technology investor, helped foreign intelligence-linked figures use İstanbul Municipality data and campaign analytics to influence the 2019 İstanbul mayoral election in İmamoğlu’s favor.
Prosecutors allege that data from millions of users of the municipality’s “İstanbul Senin” (İstanbul Is Yours) mobile application was transferred abroad and offered for sale on the dark web. The indictment covers an alleged offense period between 2019 and 2025.
İmamoğlu, a leading opposition figure and the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, denies the charges. He previously said he had “absolutely no knowledge of or connection to intelligence agencies or their employees,” calling the accusations “absurd.”
The trial got underway on May 11. Gün and İmamoğlu presented their defenses on the first day, while Yanardağ and Özkan completed theirs on Tuesday.
İmamoğlu, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate for the 2028 presidential election, has been held in Marmara Prison for more than a year. He was arrested in March 2025 in a separate corruption investigation targeting the İstanbul Municipality and later removed from office.
Critics say the successive legal cases against İmamoğlu are aimed at sidelining President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s most prominent political rival ahead of the next national elections. The government denies political interference in the judiciary.
Another indictment filed in November against İmamoğlu accuses him of leading a vast criminal network and committing 142 offenses that could result in a sentence of up to 2,430 years in prison. The nearly 4,000-page indictment accuses İmamoğlu of offenses including running a criminal organization, bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, extortion and bid rigging.
