 officials, while jailed Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and other senior opposition figures remain in pretrial detention.){kind=link}
A Turkish court on Friday ordered the release under judicial supervision of 18 defendants in a high-profile corruption case targeting İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) officials, while jailed Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and other senior opposition figures remain in pretrial detention.
The decision came on the 15th day of hearings in a sweeping trial involving 402 defendants, 107 of whom were in pretrial detention, in a case widely seen as central to an ongoing crackdown on the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
The İstanbul 40th High Criminal Court ruled unanimously to release 18 people under judicial supervision, including Kadriye Kasapoğlu, İmamoğlu’s chief of staff. The court imposed travel bans on those released, some of whom had not yet presented their defense.
No CHP mayors, including İmamoğlu, Şişli district Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan and Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık, were granted release, according to BBC Turkish.
Before the ruling, İmamoğlu addressed the court but did not request his own release.
“The Turkish people have a desire to live in a state governed by the rule of law. Please restore and protect it. … I am here. Please release our friends,” he said.
Following the decision, İmamoğlu embraced those set to be freed and bid them farewell, saying, “We will continue the struggle.”
In a post shared on X, he welcomed the partial releases, saying: “I am glad that at least some of the people who were detained … and subjected to mistreatment simply because they worked with me have been released.”
He added that families being reunited “has brought at least some relief to all of us.”
Bir yılı aşkın süredir devam eden 19 Mart Darbesi sürecinde tutuklanan, sırf benimle çalışıyorlar diye eziyet edilen insanlardan; en azından bir kısmının tahliye olmasına sevindim.
Annelerin ve babaların evlatlarına, evlatların anne ve babalarına kavuşmaları bir nebze de olsa…
— Cumhurbaşkanlığı Aday Ofisi (@CAOIletisim1) April 3, 2026
Although the court issued its ruling around midnight, the release process extended into the early morning hours, prompting criticism from CHP officials.
CHP İstanbul provincial chair Özgür Çelik criticized the delay, saying that although such procedures typically take one to two hours, several detainees were still awaiting release six hours after the ruling.
One of the first to be released was Sırrı Küçük, a driver for CHP Deputy Chair Özgür Karabat. He described mixed emotions, saying: “There are two drops of tears in my eyes. If my right eye cries out of happiness, my left cries out of sadness, because half of our hearts are still there. But I see this as the beginning of our struggle.”
Main opposition slams ruling, cites political interference
CHP officials and lawmakers broadly criticized the ruling as insufficient and politically driven.
Çelik said on X that their joy was “bittersweet” but that their hope remained strong. He added that turning pretrial detention into a form of punishment rather than a precaution had once again undermined the law.
Sevincimiz buruk, umudumuz diri.
Bir gün bile tutuklu kalmaması gereken insanların çok azı özgürlüğüne kavuşacak. Tutuklu yargılama tedbirini cezalandırmaya dönüştüren alışkanlık yine hukuku ayaklar altına aldı.
Bir yıldır haksız yere tutuklu bulunan 18 yol arkadaşımız…
— Özgür Çelik (@ozgurcelikchp) April 2, 2026
Deputy Chair Gökan Zeybek said, “Every stolen day, every hour is a great loss and disgrace recorded in this country’s ledger of justice.”
Çökmüş bir iddianameye karşı insanlar gece yarılarına kadar ADALET derdinde❗️
Hakikat öyle ya da böyle mutlaka
yerini bulacak.Tahliye edilenlere yürekten geçmiş olsun dileklerimi iletiyorum.
Çalınan her gün, her saat bu ülkenin hukuk hanesine yazılmış büyük bir kayıp ve… https://t.co/B6y8ZOACPW
— Gökan Zeybek (@gokanzeybekCHP) April 2, 2026
Lawmakers echoed similar concerns. CHP MP Yunus Emre said the decision showed that “the real problem is not a matter of a few releases, but the judiciary’s inability to free itself from political influence.”
İBB davasında verilen ara karar, sorunun birkaç tahliye meselesi olmadığını açıkça göstermektedir.
Asıl sorun, yargının siyasetin gölgesinden çıkarılamaması; tutukluluğun bir tedbir değil, cezalandırma yöntemine dönüştürülmesidir.
Adalet, keyfiliğe değil evrensel hukuk… https://t.co/2UwGOqCriB
— Yunus Emre (@yunusemrechp) April 2, 2026
Another CHP lawmaker, Mahmut Tanal, said: “This is not justice, it is a limited correction. If 89 people are still inside, it means the problem persists.”
3.4.2026 – Saat 00:26
İBB davasında ;
107 tutuklu, 18 tahliye.
89 kişi hâlâ cezaevinde.Bu adalet değil, sınırlı bir düzeltmedir.
Tutuklama istisnadır.
89 kişi içerideyse sorun devam ediyor demektir.
Adalet parça parça olmaz.
Bu tabloya adalet denemez.— Av.Mahmut TANAL (@MTanal) April 2, 2026
İmamoğlu’s wife, Dilek Kaya İmamoğlu, also welcomed the releases but said the sense of relief was overshadowed by those still imprisoned, describing the situation as “a deep feeling of incompleteness.”
Aylardır verdiğimiz zorlu mücadelenin ve her bir ailenin sevdikleriyle kavuşması için kararlılıkla sürdürdüğümüz adalet arayışının ardından, bugün 18 kişinin tahliyesiyle nihayet umutlarımızı yeşerten bir ana şahitlik ediyoruz. Ancak ne yazık ki sevincimiz, beraberinde getirdiği…
— Dilek Kaya İmamoğlu (@dk_imamoglu) April 2, 2026
The case is based on corruption allegations against İBB officials and employees, with prosecutors previously requesting the release of seven detainees based on the duration of their detention and the nature of the charges, while seeking the continued detention of others.
Municipal mayors began presenting their defenses during the third week of hearings. Şahan denied all accusations during a four-hour defense, while Çalık said the allegations against him were baseless and that he had never used public authority for personal gain.
The trial is set to continue Monday with further testimony.
Prosecutors filed an indictment in November 2025 accusing İmamoğlu of leading a criminal organization and committing 142 offenses, seeking a cumulative sentence of up to 2,430 years in prison. The nearly 4,000-page document names 402 suspects and portrays İmamoğlu as the leader of an extensive network involving municipal institutions.
İmamoğlu has strongly denied all accusations, while the CHP has described the case as politically motivated and aimed at sidelining President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest rival ahead of future elections.
His arrest in March triggered nationwide protests, the largest in Turkey in more than a decade, while human rights groups and Western officials have repeatedly accused authorities of using the judiciary to silence dissent.
The development comes amid an expanding legal campaign against the CHP following its gains in the March 2024 local elections, when the party won control of many major cities and dealt Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) a major electoral setback.
Since October 2024 opposition mayors and municipal officials have faced a series of investigations that critics say are politically motivated.
Within the CHP, concerns are growing that the crackdown could expand further to target senior party leadership.