SCANDALOUS NEW VIDEO UNCOVERED IN DINK MURDER PROBE
Sedat Gunec Ankara
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 7 2007
Inspectors uncovered a second video showing the suspected murderer of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink being given a "hero’s welcome"
at a police station after his arrest in the Black Sea province
of Samsun.
Five police officers and five members of the Gendarmerie have been
dismissed from their duties since footage showing members of the police
and the gendarmerie posing for "souvenir photos" with 17-year-old Ogun
Samast, who confessed to killing Dink because he "insulted Turkish
blood," was broadcasted on Turkish television. An investigation has
been launched into the incident and inspectors have been sent to
Samsun, where Samast was captured after a nation-wide manhunt.
In the second video, which appears to be continuation of the first
video, the same police and gendarmerie officials are seen chatting
with Samast in an unceremonious way. A fifth police official and a
fifth gendarmerie member were dismissed after inspectors saw that
second video and asked for their dismissal, sources said.
Members of the security forces are seen in the second video giving
Samast a "hero’s welcome" and asking him how he committed the murder.
Some officials are seen making comments in praise of what he did.
Dink was murdered on Jan. 19 in broad daylight outside his office in
downtown Ýstanbul. The murder was followed by allegations that the
security forces failed to follow up on a tip-off last year about a
plot to kill Dink.
On Monday evening, the Interior Ministry sacked Ýstanbul Police
Intelligence Chief Ahmet Ýlhan Guler as part of the ongoing
investigation for reportedly ignoring a tip about the planned attack
one year ago.
Media reports have alleged the Ýstanbul police received a tip-off
from their colleagues in Trabzon last year that Hayal was plotting to
kill Dink, but did not follow up on the intelligence. Turkish daily
Sabah reported that Guler told inspectors he never reported the tip
to Ýstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah because the information
did not seem reliable.
Reports also said an investigation into the Ýstanbul police
intelligence department was continuing.
Trial continues after Dink’s death Meanwhile, an Ýstanbul court
began retrial of Dink for "insulting Turkishness" pursuant to a
Supreme Court of Appeals decision that rejected an earlier verdict
on procedural grounds. The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a lower
court ruling that sentenced Dink to a six-month suspended jail term
for insulting Turkishness in an article he wrote in February 2004,
saying elements of the crime existed, but decided to override the
ruling on procedural grounds.
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