Istanbul Court Conditionally Releases 15 Defendants in İmamoğlu Corruption Trial

An Istanbul court ordered the conditional release of 15 of the 413 defendants in the mega-corruption trial targeting Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and his associates. The trial, which began March 9, 2026, accuses İmamoğlu — Turkey's most popular opposition figure and the CHP's presumed 2028 presidential candidate — of founding and directing an organized network of bribery and tender manipulation spanning a decade of municipal operations. İmamoğlu himself remains detained. If convicted on all charges, he faces a sentence exceeding 2,430 years in prison. The trial is widely viewed by opposition figures, EU officials, and human rights organizations as politically motivated persecution designed to eliminate Erdoğan's most credible electoral challenger. A Bloomberg report noted the case risks fundamentally reshaping Turkey's opposition political landscape.