İmamoğlu, a leading rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been in jail for nearly a year. He was chosen as the presidential candidate of the opposition Republican People's Party shortly after his arrest last March, ahead of elections expected in 2028.
The hearing at the court in Istanbul began in a tense atmosphere. Reports from Halk TV said İmamoğlu asked to speak but the judges refused his request and accused him of disrupting the proceedings. The judges then left the courtroom, and the session was temporarily suspended.
Most of the 402 defendants are current or former employees of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, which İmamoğlu has led since 2019. Several journalists and elected officials from the opposition party are also among those charged.
Prosecutors accuse İmamoğlu of leading a criminal network for financial gain dating back to 2015, when he served as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district. The indictment claims the group manipulated public tenders and used illegal payments to fund political activities and support his rise within the party.
If convicted on all 142 charges, İmamoğlu could face a prison sentence of more than 2,000 years.
His arrest on March 19 last year sparked large nationwide protests, the biggest seen in Turkey in over a decade.
The corruption case is one of several legal challenges against the 54-year-old mayor, who also faces accusations including terrorism, espionage, falsifying his university diploma, and insulting public officials.
