İstanbul’s 40th Heavy Penal Court has accepted the indictment in a major corruption investigation targeting the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and its suspended mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
On Nov 11, İstanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek announced that the indictment, spanning more than 3,700 pages, had been submitted to the court.
The indictment lists 402 defendants, including 105 in pretrial detention, mostly municipal officials and employees. İmamoğlu faces charges related to 142 separate acts and is accused of offenses that could carry between 828 and 2,352 years in prison.
The charges include “establishing a criminal organization,” “leading a criminal organization,” “accepting bribes,” and “offering bribes.”
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One of the defense attorneys, Hüseyin Ersöz, stated that although the indictment had been accepted, lawyers were still unable to access the case files.
“Normally, once the indictment is accepted, we gain access to the file through the National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP),” Ersöz said. “But in this case, when we log into UYAP, we see that almost none of the documents have been uploaded or made accessible to the defense.”
“As of now, there is no way to view any of the documents entered before Nov 10, 2025. We either have to physically go to the 40th Heavy Penal Court in İstanbul and examine hundreds of folders, or wait for the court to scan and upload the files," he added.
The procedural document expected in the next 10 days will also include the trial date and the decision regarding pretrial detention, the lawyer noted.
İmamoğlu, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was detained in March on corruption charges and later placed under arrest. His detention sparked days of street protests. Followinf his arrest, the CHP has since announced İmamoğlu as its presidential candidate for the 2028 elections.
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(HA/VK)
