Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday charged jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu with 142 offenses, meaning that he could potentially face up to 2,532 years in prison if found guilty of all of them.
Imamoglu, who has been in jail already for nearly eight months after being arrested and suspended from office in March, is seen as one of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s most serious rivals.
What is Imamoglu charged with?
In a nearly 4,000-page indictment, prosecutors drew up a list of offenses ranging from running a criminal organization and bribery to embezzlement, extortion and tender rigging.
Imamoglu, from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is currently in pre-trial detention on corruption charges, as well as serving a separate jail sentence of a year and eight months for allegedly insulting and threatening Istanbul’s chief prosecutor.
His arrest in March triggered massive protests.
Host of legal proceedings against Imamoglu
The corruption charges against Imamoglu, which he has strongly denied, make up just one of several legal proceedings against him.
Among other things, he is also facing espionage charges filed last month, with prosecutors accusing him of passing on personal data of Istanbul residents to gain funding from abroad for his presidential campaign.
Prosecutors have also accused him of insulting the chief prosecutor and of forging diploma documents.
Critics see the case as part of an effort to sideline him after his party’s strong performance in last year’s local elections.
The government insists that the judiciary is independent and that any investigations aim only to expose corruption or other wrongdoing.
