The lawyers of the dismissed and arrested mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, have filed a request to appeal his arrest before the court in Istanbul, the Birgunj newspaper reported, BTA reported.
„We demand that the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, which was carried out as a result of an investigation conducted with illegal means from beginning to end, for which specific facts were provided, to which millions of people reacted, be canceled and the person be released. If the illegal detention continues, the file should be sent to the competent and authorized Criminal Court and considered as an objection“, reads the full text provided to the court by Imamoglu's lawyers.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained on March 19 along with a number of members of the Republican People's Party (CHP), and on March 23 the court extended his detention on corruption charges, and only days later the Istanbul Municipal Council removed Imamoglu from office and appointed Nuri Aslan as his temporary deputy. Imamoglu's arrest sparked mass protests across the country, which led to clashes between police and protesters, as well as new arrests.
At the same time, Imamoglu was chosen as the official candidate for the presidential race by the HDP, and the opposition started a petition demanding his immediate release and early presidential elections before the regular ones, which are due to be held in 2028.