# İmamoğlu's 'political espionage' trial opens in Silivri
> Jailed over a year, Erdoğan's strongest rival faces 15-20 years on espionage charges and a separate indictment seeking up to 2,430 — and tells the court the nation will decide at the ballot box

**Meta:** type: event · date: 2026-06-24 · heads: Qui décide, Ce qu'ils ne disent pas · 9 takes · 1 lenses · 5 regions

## Summary

The "political espionage" (casusluk) trial of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu opened in
Silivri, with co-defendants Merdan Yanardağ, Necati Özkan and Hüseyin Gün. The indictment,
accepted by Istanbul's 25th Heavy Penal Court on 18 February 2026, seeks 15-20 years under
Article 328 for passing state secrets to a foreign state; the theory is that businessman
Gün — now a state witness — helped foreign-intelligence-linked figures use İBB municipal
data and campaign analytics to sway the 2019 Istanbul election. On 13 May the court kept
İmamoğlu and three others jailed; he has been held over a year, since his 19 March 2025
arrest. A separate ~4,000-page corruption indictment alleges 142 offences and up to 2,430
years. In court İmamoğlu said he had not read "a single page" and that "the nation will
decide again at the ballot box." The case proceeds as a court [removes
the CHP's leader](/fr/n/erdogan-chp-ozel-ousted).

## By the numbers

- 15-20 — years sought in the espionage case (Article 328).
- 18 Feb 2026 — indictment accepted; trial opened May 2026.
- 19 Mar 2025 — İmamoğlu's arrest; held over a year.
- ~2,430 — maximum years sought in the separate 142-count corruption indictment.

## Why it matters

İmamoğlu is the opposition's most plausible challenger to [Recep Tayyip Erdogan](/fr/entity/recep-tayyip-erdogan).
Jailing and trying him on espionage — a charge harder to dismiss as ordinary politics than
corruption — keeps him out of the 2028 race while the CHP is decapitated from above,
clearing the field as Erdoğan pursues a constitutional path to another term.

## What to watch

- Whether the court grants release pending trial or extends detention.
- Verdicts in the parallel corruption case and any conviction barring him from office.
- The CHP's ability to mount a defence amid its own leadership crisis.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### unlabelled
- **Cumhuriyet** (Turkey, tr) — Opposition daily carries İmamoğlu's in-court defiance verbatim: he addresses Erdoğan and MHP leader Bahçeli directly, says he has not read a single page of the indictment, and insists the electorate will deliver the verdict.
  > "İmamoğlu: 'I have not read a single page of the indictment. The nation will decide again at the ballot box.'"
  Source: https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/siyaset/casusluk-davasinda-ilk-durusma-sona-erdi-ekrem-imamoglu-erdogan-ve-bahceli-ye-seslendi-cok-buyuk-bir-uyarida-bulunuyorum-2502705
- **Bianet** (Turkey, tr) — Rights-focused independent outlet examines the case's machinery — businessman Hüseyin Gün turning state witness ('itirafçı') — treating the espionage charge as politically engineered around a confessor mechanism rather than evidence.
  > "Hüseyin Gün has become a confessor in the İmamoğlu espionage investigation."
  Source: https://bianet.org/haber/imamoglu-na-casusluk-sorusturmasinda-huseyin-gun-itirafci-oldu-312916
- **Türkiye Today** (Turkey, en) — Pro-government framing legitimises the case as a genuine national-security matter, presenting the use of İBB data and campaign analytics by foreign-intelligence-linked figures to sway the 2019 election as a real foreign-interference threat.
  > "The case alleges foreign-linked figures used municipal data to influence the 2019 Istanbul election."
  Source: https://www.turkiyetoday.com/nation/inside-turkiyes-controversial-political-espionage-case-against-imamoglu-3219905
- **Turkish Minute** (Turkey, en) — 
  Source: https://www.turkishminute.com/2026/05/13/istanbul-court-keeps-imamoglu-3-others-jailed-in-political-espionage-case/
- **Stockholm Center for Freedom** (Sweden, en) — 
  Source: https://stockholmcf.org/istanbul-court-keeps-imamoglu-3-others-jailed-in-political-espionage-case/
- **Human Rights Watch** (United States, en) — 
  Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/03/03/turkiye-leading-opponent-of-erdogan-on-trial
- **Irish Times** (Ireland, en) — 
  Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2026/03/09/jailed-erdogan-rival-argues-with-judge-as-corruption-trial-begins-in-turkey/
- **commonspace.eu** (Europe, en) — 
  Source: https://www.commonspace.eu/news/istanbul-mayor-ekrem-imamoglu-faces-mass-corruption-trial-alongside-hundreds-defendants
- **Memurlar.net** (Turkey, tr) — 
  Source: https://www.memurlar.net/haber/1167068/casusluk-davasinda-savunma-yapan-imamoglu-iddianamenin-tek-bir-sayfasini-okumadim.html

## Across the graph
- Related: [[erdogan-chp-ozel-ousted]], [[eu-turkey-report-sanctions]]
- Entities: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

---
Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/fr/n/erdogan-imamoglu-espionage-trial