Jailed Erdoğan Rival İmamoğlu Faces Three Court Hearings in One Day as NATO Leaders Arrive

On Monday, July 6, 2026 — as NATO leaders began arriving in Ankara for the alliance summit — jailed Istanbul Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu appeared in three separate court proceedings at the Silivri prison complex outside Istanbul in a single day: the 62nd hearing of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality corruption case, a case alleging he fraudulently obtained his 1994 university diploma, and the political/military espionage case (alongside journalist Merdan Yanardağ, adviser Necati Özkan and businessman Hüseyin Gün), which the court adjourned after ordering further technical examination of alleged Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality data-breach evidence. European Parliament rapporteur for Turkey Nacho Sánchez Amor said it was 'statistically impossible' that three hearings for the same defendant fell on the same day international attention was on Ankara for the summit.