Turkish prosecutors demand 2,000-year prison sentence for Istanbul mayor

Turkish media reported that a prosecutor in Turkey called for the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu for more than 2,000 years, on charges related to "corruption and harming the state".

11 November, 2025 20:01

A prosecutor in Turkey has demanded a prison sentence of more than two thousand years for Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been imprisoned since last March pending trial on charges related to "corruption", which Imamoglu and his opposition party, the Republican People's Party, deny.

The indictment against Imamoglu, filed by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor, includes, in addition to 401 other people, "involvement in an illicit gain network" that is said to have "caused damage to the state worth 160 billion liras", equivalent to ($3.81 billion) over the past 10 years.

The Turkish Public Prosecution charged Istanbul's elected mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, with 142 charges, and local media reported that the prosecution demanded a sentence of up to 2,352 years.

The Turkish regime took over the Istanbul municipality last March, after dismissing its elected president, Ekrem Imamoglu, while the latter faces court sentences that may reach 8 years and 9 months in prison and a ban on his political work for a similar period.

ANHA