Turkish prosecutors have charged Istanbul’s jailed mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, with 142 offences that could carry a penalty of hundreds of years in prison, in a move seen as a politically motivated attack on the country’s opposition.
The indictment filed on Tuesday, which runs to nearly 4,000 pages, charges the popular opposition figure who was arrested on 19 March with offences including running a criminal organisation, bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, extortion and tender rigging.
The state news agency, Anadolu, said prosecutors would be asking for prison sentences that could amount to up to 2,430 years behind bars if he is found guilty.
Turkey’s opposition leader said the charges were intended to prevent İmamoğlu running for president in the 2028 election.
“This case is not legal, it is entirely political. Its purpose is to stop the Republican People’s party (CHP), which came first in the last local elections, and to block its presidential candidate,” Özgür Özel said on X.
The arrest of İmamoğlu, the main political rival of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was met with outrage from the CHP and prompted demonstrations across Turkey. It was the country’s worst street unrest since 2013.
İmamoğlu faces allegations that include espionage and faking his university degree, which could lead to him being banned from running for president.
According to the indictment, which names 402 suspects, İmamoğlu allegedly headed a crime network over which he exerted his influence “like an octopus”.
In an address to parliament on Tuesday, Özel said İmamoğlu would be the party’s candidate in the next presidential vote.
“Can someone be both an electoral fraudster, hold a forged decree and be a thief, a terrorist and a spy all at the same time?” he said before the indictment was released.
“If you accused an innocent person of just one of these crimes, it would be a great injustice. But when you put all of them on one person, it’s a major crime … But his only crime is running for the presidency of this country,” he said.
Also in the indictment, prosecutors said they had filed papers with Turkey’s top appeals court against the CHP, which observers said could pave the way for the party’s closure.
In a separate statement, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office confirmed it had informed the court about certain irregularities but denied reports it was seeking to have the party shut down.
The CHP has been under increasing pressure since it won control of Turkey’s largest cities in local elections in March 2024. Sixteen of its mayors have since been jailed.
An Ankara court dismissed a case in October challenging the legitimacy of the outcome of the party’s 2023 leadership primary, saying there was no legal basis for removing the current leadership from office.
The move could have unseated Özel, who is facing a number of lawsuits including one for insulting the president.
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