İstanbul’s jailed mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu went on trial Monday in a sweeping corruption case critics say is a politically motivated attempt to derail his chances of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Agence France-Presse reported.
But the hearing — which began around 11:00 am (0800 GMT), got off to a bumpy start, with the judge suspending proceedings after barely 15 minutes.
Detained on March 19 of last year and jailed ever since, İmamoğlu appeared before the Silivri court for the opening of a sweeping graft case in which prosecutors want him jailed for 2,430 years.
Cheers of “We are proud of you!” erupted from the gallery as he and scores of other defendants entered the courtroom for a trial involving more than 400 people, the mayor’s team and journalists in the room wrote on X.
When the trial opened, the judge said İmamoğlu would be one of the last to testify, prompting the mayor, who is the principle accused, to ask to speak sooner.
But the judge refused, drawing cries of “Shame, shame!” from the gallery.
Then when a defense lawyer asked why the order of witnesses had been leaked to a pro-government newspaper but not supplied to the defense team, the judge cleared the court and suspended the session.
It was due to resume in the early afternoon.
İmamoğlu was jailed on the day he was named the presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
He is widely seen as one of the only politicians capable of defeating Erdoğan at the ballot box in national elections due before mid-2028.
‘A conspiracy case’
Among those at the hearing was CHP leader Özgür Özel and İmamoğlu’s wife Dilek, as well as other party officials, many of whom had refused to leave the courtroom, pro-opposition Halk TV said.
“This trial is a conspiratorial case. It is an attempted coup by Tayyip Erdoğan against the next president and the next government,” Özel said as the trial began.
Prosecutors have charged 54-year-old İmamoğlu with 142 offences, ranging from graft to embezzlement and espionage, alongside more than 400 other defendants, in an indictment that runs nearly 4,000 pages.
They accuse him of running a sprawling criminal network over which he exerted influence “like an octopus.”
With all protests banned within a one-kilometer (0.6-mile) radius of the courthouse, supporters gathered at a distance at a CHP encampment by a mockup of İmamoğlu’s jail cell, an Agence France-Presse correspondent at the scene said.
“The day will come when the tables are turned and the AKP will be held accountable,” they shouted, referring to Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, waving pictures of İmamoğlu and 15 other CHP mayors who are also behind bars.
“If he had not announced his presidential candidacy, he would still be in office as mayor,” said Kadim Taşbilek, a 58-year-old retiree, who denounced the trial as “a political coup.”
“This case is political. I don’t believe there’s any corruption,” agreed Hülya Öztürk, a 74-year-old pensioner.
‘Weaponized’ justice system
The trial has been widely denounced by rights groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which both condemned the “weaponization” of Turkey’s justice system to remove political opponents.
“This prosecution bears the hallmarks of an attempt to intimidate political opponents of the government and silence wider dissent in the country,” said a statement from Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty’s deputy director for Europe.
“This mass trial is the most extreme example of the disturbing weaponization of Turkey’s justice system, whose independence has now been almost entirely hollowed out.”
With the trial involving such a large number of defendants, the court authorities had started construction of a new courtroom especially for the trial, but it had not been completed on time, CHP officials said on Sunday.
The court has limited the number of journalists covering the trial to 25, of which five were international media representatives.
At Monday’s hearing, a summary of the indictment will be read out and the court will decide on the time frame for hearing the case.
Among those present in court were CHP leader Özgür Özel and İmamoğlu’s wife Dilek, who told reporters at the scene their request for the trial to be broadcast live had been ignored.
“We’re nervous and excited before the hearing. I visited him last week and his morale is quite good,” she said.
Legal crackdown
Since the CHP won a resounding victory in the March 2024 local elections against Erdoğan’s AKP, it has faced a sweeping legal crackdown. Fifteen of its mayors are now behind bars.
Analysts say İmamoğlu almost certainly will not be able to run in the next presidential race.
Even if he were to be cleared of the graft charges, he is facing an even more significant legal obstacle: a lawsuit challenging the validity of his university degree, a constitutional requirement for presidential candidates.
Should he be barred, political observers expect CHP leader Özel or Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş to emerge as the likely candidates for the presidential race.
