Ekrem İmamoğlu, the imprisoned chairman of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), his advisor Necati Özkan, and journalist Merdan Yanardağ have been arrested on charges of “political espionage”.
According to Modern.az, within the framework of the investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the statements of the aforementioned individuals have been taken.
A pre-trial detention measure has been imposed on them on charges of “political espionage”.
The decision states that the criminal organization allegedly led by Ekrem İmamoğlu carried out various corruption operations to raise funds for a presidential candidacy.
Furthermore, it is alleged that they were also involved in espionage activities to gain foreign support.
The document states that İmamoğlu and Özkan illegally interfered with the social media accounts and internal correspondence of many voters to gain an advantage in the 2019 elections. According to the Prosecutor's Office, they transferred data belonging to İBB to an online platform called “Austin” and had this data analyzed with the support of foreign intelligence agencies.
