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Ekrem Imamoglu trial/ Court remands former Istanbul mayor in custody

2026-05-13 20:34:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ekrem Imamoglu trial/ Court remands former Istanbul mayor in custody

The Istanbul 25th Criminal Court has decided to extend the pre-trial detention of former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and his three associates, Huseyin Gün, Necati Özkan and Merdan Yanardag. During the hearing held at the Marmara High Security Prison, the court rejected the defense's requests for release, arguing that the risk of flight and the need to gather evidence make other restrictive measures insufficient at this stage.

The trial has been officially postponed to July 6, while the defendants continue to face the serious charge of "political espionage," which carries a sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison.

The indictment prepared by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office alleges that between 2019 and 2025, personal data of citizens and confidential documents of the municipality were stolen and transferred to the "Ostin" platform, which operates on the dark web. According to the prosecution, this information was used for analysis under the direction of foreign intelligence services, which also mentions cooperation with American citizen Aaron Barr.

The dossier notes that Imamoglu personally authorized full access to external experts in the municipality's systems, paving the way for the leakage of internal correspondence in order to gain political advantage.

To prove these claims, the court has authorized the Turkish Secret Service and the Anti-Terrorism Directorate to conduct an in-depth review of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's security servers and files.

The Information Technology Authority has also been asked to hand over IP address data and access logs to determine whether there was any unauthorized interference. While Imamoglu, who was dismissed from office after the arrest, has called the charges politically motivated, investigations are being expanded to verify the full extent of the alleged espionage scandal.





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