Istanbul’s detained mayor testified five hours in court

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was arrested on charges of being linked to a group involved in corruption, bribery and assisting terrorist activities, ended the five -hour testimony before the court, Turkish media reported today.

Asked about his real estate, vehicles and other funds, I have an Amoglu that he reported all his property to the competent services and that his monthly salary amounted to 250,000 liras (about 6,000 euros).

During the police hearing on the alleged crimes « Establishing and Managing an Organization in order to commit the crime and affiliation of an organization founded for the purpose of committing a crime, bribery, bidding and extortion », Imamoglu did not. He said he did not deal with these issues and that he strongly and decisively denied all accusations, Turkish television TRT Haber reports.

Asked if he would say again because he did not answer some questions, Ekrem I hadmoglu responded briefly – « no ».

Immoglu was arrested on Wednesday during a raid at his residence, just days before being expected to be nominated for presidential candidate of the opposition Republican People’s Party in Sunday’s preliminary election.

Since the arrest of Imamoglu, thousands of people gathered at Istanbul’s city hall at night rallies, and clashes between protesters and police in Istanbul, Turkey’s capital, Ankara and the third largest Turkish city, Izmir.

The arrest of Imamoglu has sparked mass protests, despite authorities strengthening security measures on numerous central streets and banned all rallies and demonstrations in the city by Sunday.

Commenting earlier on the closure of Immoglu, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke about the opposition’s attempts to put political pressure on the police and the judiciary.

Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunch urged no street protests after the arrest of Immoglu, noting that this situation was in no way linked to Erdogan.