İmamoğlu’s detention upheld as he faces three simultaneous trials in Turkey

Ekrem İmamoğlu, the Istanbul mayor and CHP presidential candidate, remains in pre‑trial detention while confronting three separate criminal cases. One case concerns alleged corruption and mismanagement of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality; a second accuses him, journalist Merdan Yanardağ, adviser Necati Özkan and businessman Hüseyin Gün of “political espionage” (“siyasal casusluk”); a third alleges falsification of his university diploma. The Istanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court ordered the continuation of the detention of all four defendants and postponed the next hearing to 29 September. The diploma case was delayed until 25 December 2026. In his defence, İmamoğlu said, “NATO countries arrived in Ankara the day I am being tried – what will the head of state say?” and added that “the only thing that does not change is the will to convict me.” He and his supporters describe the prosecutions as politically motivated attacks coinciding with a NATO summit in Ankara. International observers, including the European Green Party, have condemned the trials as an abuse of the judiciary aimed at silencing opposition.

The trials involve 414 accused in the municipal case, with 59 currently detained, and the prosecution claims İmamoğlu is responsible for 142 alleged offences, seeking sentences ranging from 828 to 2 352 years. The courts have repeatedly changed judges, prompting İmamoğlu to claim that “decisions are made first, reasons written later.” The proceedings continue to draw large domestic protests and scrutiny from European institutions.