Critics say sprawling corruption case against Ekrem İmamoğlu aims to stop him running as president against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
A mass trial of 400 people including the jailed mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, has opened in Turkey in a sprawling corruption case critics say is a politically motivated attempt to scupper his chances of challenging Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the presidency.
Hundreds of former and current employees of the Istanbul municipality are due to give evidence, including more than 106 people already in jail. All stand accused of involvement in a broad network of corruption and organised crime centred on İmamoğlu’s office.
İmamoğlu, the mayor of Turkey’s largest city, was arrested last year during a raid on his home, shortly after announcing his intention to run for president on behalf of the country’s largest opposition party, the Republican People’s party (CHP).
As all protests banned within a 1km radius of the courtroom have been banned, supporters gathered at a distance, waving images of İmamoğlu and more than a dozen other CHP detained mayors, according to an Agence France-Presse reporter.
