Turkey jails 18 more Istanbul municipal officials in growing crackdown

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ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Turkish court has jailed pending trial 18 employees of the Istanbul municipality on corruption charges, state-owned Anadolu and other media reported on Wednesday, amid a crackdown on the opposition and the city’s jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival who leads him in polls, was jailed in March pending trial over corruption charges. He also faces charges of aiding a terrorist group.

The mayor has denied all charges and his arrest triggered the largest protests in a decade, economic turmoil and accusations of a politicised judiciary. The government rejects those claims and says the judiciary is independent.

Broadcaster NTV said 34 of the total 52 people who were detained at the weekend under the investigation were released with judicial restrictions.

Turkish media had reported on Saturday that authorities detained dozens of Istanbul municipality employees as part of legal probes focused around Imamoglu, expanding a crackdown on the main opposition that began late last year.

Those detained included the municipality’s secretary general, Imamoglu’s chief of staff, the chairman and deputy chairman of the municipality’s water and sewerage administration (ISKI), as well as a department head at ISKI.

(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Daren Butler)