Istanbul’s chief prosecutor on November 11 said in a filed 4,000-page indictment that Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu should be imprisoned for 828 to 2,352 years for committing 142 corruption offences.

The multiple cases brought against Imamoglu are widely seen as the work of a regime determined to sideline him in order to prevent him from running against the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in elections, which popular wisdom says would result in a clear victory for the charismatic Imamoglu. The main opposition party CHP has said it will make every effort to keep Imamoglu as its presidential candidate despite the prosecutions mounted against him. He has been in pre-trial custody since mid-March, denying any wrongdoing and describing charges brought against him as a concocted implausible absurdity designed to keep him out of politics. Imamoglu in September described the behaviour of the regime as "bankrupting hope in this country".

The Istanbul chief prosecutor, Akin Gurlek, has targeted Imamoglu as well as 401 others, saying there is a criminal corruption network with the mayor at its head.

Gurlek alleges the Turkish state has suffered losses totalling as much as Turkish lira (TRY) 160bn ($3.8bn) caused by the activities of the claimed criminal organisation, previously dubbed an "octopus-like" structure by Erdogan.

Imamoglu is cited on 12 counts of bribery, seven counts of money laundering from criminal proceeds and seven counts of fraud against public institutions and organisations.

He’s also facing allegations related to espionage and has been accused of forging his university diploma, which has been annulled. This is a difficulty in that the law states that a presidential candidate must have a degree of higher education.

The Erdogan administration denies claims that the judiciary is used as a political instrument against opponents. However, it is well known for disregarding verdicts on appeals to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that go against it.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel on November 11 said that no-one else in his party would run for the presidency, saying of Imamoglu: "His crime is to run for the next presidency of this country. He has no other crime!"

In comments to his party’s MPs, Ozel sarcastically added: "Could he have committed electoral fraud, had a fake diploma, been a thief, a terrorist and a spy at the same time?"