Imamoğlu Presents Defense at 98th Hearing: 'This File Is About Disqualification'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu began his defense today at the 98th hearing of the trial in which 436 defendants, 53 of them detained, are being tried. Imamoğlu said in response to the charges leveled against him: "All of these files are actually a single file; and its name is clear: the disqualification file."

Imamoğlu has been detained since March 23. The defense, conducted with his legal team, will continue until October 17. In the initial indictment, Imamoğlu faces a demand for sentences ranging from 849 years to 2,430 years and six months, while in the supplementary indictment opened in connection with the Ağaç A.Ş. File, additional sentences of between 62 and 168 years each are being sought. The 3,809-page indictment, finalized on November 11, 2025, targets Imamoğlu on 17 separate charges including "founding and leading a criminal organization," bribery, bid-rigging, and damage to public property.

Among the charges are "willful environmental contamination" and violations of the Forest Law and Mining Law; these headings indicate that the case also covers the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's infrastructure and environmental tenders. YENİ Party Chair Özgür Özel and his delegation followed the hearing from the courtroom.