Overview
- Proceedings at the Silivri court halted minutes after opening as Ekrem Imamoglu challenged the judge’s decision to hear him last, prompting the judge to clear the room and pause the session.
- Prosecutors charge Imamoglu with roughly 142 offenses in an indictment nearing 4,000 pages and seek cumulative sentences exceeding 2,000 years alongside more than 400 co-defendants tied to the Istanbul municipality.
- Authorities imposed a month-long ban on demonstrations within one kilometre of the courthouse and sharply limited media access, with only a small pool of journalists admitted.
- Hearings are set to run weekly from Monday to Thursday, with detained defendants scheduled to testify first and Imamoglu expected to be heard later in the process.
- Separately from the graft case, a court in January upheld the cancellation of Imamoglu’s university degree required for presidential candidates, while Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International denounce the prosecutions as politically motivated.