WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a court case that could further strain American relations with Turkey and weigh on the sentencing of former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn, a criminal trial began on Monday involving a former Iranian-American business partner of Flynn.
Bijan Rafiekian's trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, turns on whether he conspired to lobby on Turkey's behalf to try to persuade the U.S. government to extradite Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Turkey for a failed coup in July 2016.