(Adnkronos) – A mega-trial against 400 defendants, including the city’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, began this morning in Istanbul. The charges are related to corruption, but the case is, according to critics of the regime, politically motivated, with the aim of preventing İmamoğlu from challenging Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the presidency. Hundreds of current and former employees of the Istanbul municipality are defendants, including 106 people who are detained.
İmamoğlu was arrested last year shortly after announcing his intention to run for president with the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Istanbul University had revoked his degree, where a degree is a necessary condition for candidacy. Opponents of Erdogan gathered a kilometer away, with photos of İmamoğlu, elected mayor in 2019, and dozens of other CHP mayors in prison.
