A prosecutor in northwestern Turkey on Friday asked a court to sentence jailed and suspended Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, who was elected on an opposition ticket, to up to 217 years in prison on charges of extortion, bribery and fraud involving local businesses and a charity.

The request came in the prosecutor’s final opinion in a trial involving 19 defendants, four of whom are jailed pending trial. The prosecutor sought a sentence of between 69 and 217 years for Özcan.

Özcan won a second term as mayor in 2024 as a candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), then Turkey’s main opposition party led by Özgür Özel. The Interior Ministry suspended Özcan after a court jailed him pending trial in March.

Özcan resigned from the CHP in June after a court ruling returned former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to the party leadership and the new leadership moved to expel him. He had backed Özel in the party dispute.

The prosecutor submitted the opinion between hearings, the next of which is scheduled for October 19.