A Turkish prosecutor demanded on Tuesday a prison sentence of more than 2,000 years for Ekrem Imamoglu, the jailed opposition mayor of Istanbul, for allegedly leading a vast corruption network that cost the state billions of lira.
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Imamoglu, who is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, has previously denied all the accusations against him, saying they are politically motivated, and his party on Tuesday rejected the new indictment as “nonsense”.
In a separate move that also deepened an unprecedented year-long legal crackdown on Erdogan’s critics, the Istanbul prosecutor asked a higher court to consider shutting down Imamoglu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akin Gurlek announced the indictment at a press conference, saying it names 402 suspects, including the mayor, and accuses them of forming a criminal organisation, bribery, fraud and bid-rigging.
Gurlek said the network caused 160 billion lira (US$3.8 billion) in losses to the Turkish state over a 10-year period.
The more than 4,000-page indictment, seen by Reuters, includes an organisation chart that portrays Imamoglu as the founder and head of the criminal group.