İnan Güney, the mayor of İstanbul’s Beyoğlu district and a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has been released after 11 months in pretrial detention in a corruption case linked to jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the DHA news agency reported on Wednesday.
Güney was removed from office after he was jailed pending trial in August 2025.
The İstanbul court ordered his release during the 64th hearing of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality trial, in which İmamoğlu and hundreds of others are being tried on corruption-related charges.
Güney left prison late at night and went to his father’s home, where he was greeted by family members, CHP İstanbul provincial chairman Özgür Çelik and party members.
Speaking from the balcony of the family home, Güney said he was physically free but that his thoughts remained with those still held in Marmara Prison in Silivri, where many of Turkey’s high-profile political detainees and convicts are held.
“We stayed alone in a cell. For 11 months we were separated from our mothers, fathers, loved ones and children,” Güney said. “We did not see this as imprisonment. We saw it as a watch for democracy and freedom.”
He said many of his friends, colleagues and fellow mayors were still behind bars.
“They released my body from Silivri,” Güney said. “I am here, but only physically. My mind and my heart are still there.”
Güney was jailed pending trial as part of a corruption investigation targeting opposition-run municipalities in İstanbul.
Prosecutors later sought up to 35 years in prison for him in an indictment filed in March on charges including aiding a criminal organization without being a member of it and defrauding public institutions.
His case was merged with the wider İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality trial targeting İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival and the CHP’s presidential candidate.
Güney, who was elected mayor of Beyoğlu in the March 31, 2024, local elections, ended the yearslong Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule in the district.
İmamoğlu has been held in pretrial detention since March 2025. Prosecutors accuse him of leading a criminal organization and are seeking a prison sentence of up to 2,352 years.
He denies wrongdoing and calls the prosecutions “a transparent attempt” to block his candidacy in the next presidential election.
Opposition figures and rights groups have described the prosecutions targeting İmamoğlu and other CHP-run municipalities as politically motivated and aimed at sidelining elected opposition officials through the courts.
The government denies political interference and claims the judiciary acts independently.