The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office has prepared an indictment in a case of the creation and leadership of an organized crime group by former Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, naming a total of 402 defendants, of whom 105 are in custody, and has requested a sentence of 828 to 2,352 years for Imamoglu, reports the Hurriyet newspaper, quoted by BTA.
Imamoglu was detained on March 19 on corruption charges, and a few days later the Istanbul municipal council temporarily removed him from office. A number of municipal officials were also detained as part of the investigation into corruption in the Istanbul Greater Municipality. The arrests sparked a wave of protests, described as the largest in Turkey since 2013.
In mid-October, the Turkish Public Prosecutor's Office concluded another corruption investigation, filing a 576-page indictment against 200 people, including seven mayors from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).