Istanbul's imprisoned mayor, İmamoğlu, is present in court during a significant corruption case

The imprisoned former mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, appeared in court on Monday to face sweeping corruption and organized crime charges in a mass trial that rights groups say is politically motivated and could result in a prison sentence of more than 2,000 years.

İmamoğlu, a leading rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is being tried alongside more than 400 co-defendants, most of them officials or associates tied to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, which he has led since 2019.

Prosecutors accuse him of heading a criminal organization that allegedly used municipal contracts, bribery and rigged tenders to generate money and political influence. If convicted, he could face a combined sentence of up to 2,430 years in prison.

The nearly 3,900-page indictment covers allegations dating back to 2015, when İmamoğlu served as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district. The case now includes 402 defendants and hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence.

İmamoğlu, who had been widely viewed as one of the few opposition figures capable of defeating Erdoğan in a national election, was detained in March last year on the day his party selected him as its candidate for the 2028 presidential race.

His arrest sparked large demonstrations across Turkey, which were met with police force and mass detentions.

Ahead of Monday’s hearing, Dinushika Dissanayake of Amnesty International described the case as deeply flawed. After nearly a year in detention, she said, İmamoğlu now faces “an absurd array of 142 charges set out in an almost 4,000 page indictment and carrying a ludicrous jail term of more than 2,300 years.”

“This politically-motivated prosecution, which is based almost entirely on secret witness testimony, is riddled with serious international fair trial and rule of law issues,” she said.

She added that the scale of the case — involving hundreds of thousands of pages of documents — made mounting an effective defense nearly impossible and bore “the hallmarks of an attempt to intimidate political opponents of the government and silence wider dissent in the country.”

Tensions surfaced immediately in the courtroom. The presiding judge rejected a request by İmamoğlu’s lawyer to allow the former mayor to deliver a brief greeting and later cut off his microphone when he attempted to speak, according to Turkish media reports from the hearing.

The judge warned İmamoğlu that he could be removed if he continued interrupting the proceedings. Supporters in the courtroom reacted angrily after the judge addressed the former mayor informally. The gallery was packed with opposition politicians, union representatives and relatives of detainees.

The hearing was held under heavy security near the Silivri Prison outside Istanbul. Local authorities have imposed restrictions on protests, banners, filming and press activity around the courthouse until March 31.

The judge said the trial would be held four days a week and could last about six weeks.

The proceedings mark the latest stage in a yearslong political and legal confrontation surrounding one of Turkey’s most prominent opposition figures. 

İmamoğlu rose to national prominence in 2019 after winning Istanbul’s mayoral election, defeating the ruling party’s candidate. Turkish authorities later ordered the vote to be rerun, but he won again by an even larger margin.

Since his detention last year, more than 1,100 people have been arrested in connection with protests supporting him, according to rights groups. Critics say the corruption case against the former mayor is part of a broader campaign to weaken political rivals ahead of future elections.