The Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been imprisoned since March on corruption charges, now faces additional allegations related to the forgery of official documents, according to the Anadolu Agency.
Turkish prosecutors have accused İmamoğlu of falsifying his university diploma, introducing a new case that poses a significant threat to this prominent challenger of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, potentially leading to even more years behind bars.
İmamoğlu is currently incarcerated due to claims of corruption, which he staunchly denies. He was jailed on March 23 while his trial is ongoing.
He refutes the accusations against him, which his party claims are orchestrated to keep Erdoğan in power. The newspaper “Milliyet” reported that the indictment regarding the university diploma seeks a prison sentence of up to eight years and nine months.
On March 18, Istanbul University revoked İmamoğlu’s diploma, leading to his arrest the next day on corruption-related charges. This sparked the largest protests Turkey has seen in the last decade, after which he was detained pending trial.
İmamoğlu’s arrest has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties and some international leaders, who describe the case as politically motivated and contrary to democratic principles, while the government denies any political undertones in the case.
He is the primary candidate for the opposition Republican People’s Party in any upcoming presidential elections. İmamoğlu was re-elected as mayor last March, winning decisively against the ruling Justice and Development Party’s candidate, led by Erdoğan.