NO SPECIAL PROSECUTOR FOR INVESTIGATION OF HRANT DINK MURDER
BIAnet.org
May 17 2010
Turkey
The Istanbul Chief prosecution dismissed the request to appoint a
special prosecutor for the murder case of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink. 3.5 years after the murder it is still not clear which
public officials are responsible and who pulled the trigger.
Erol ONDEROGLU [email protected] Istanbul – BIA News Center17 May 2010,
Monday The Istanbul Public Chief Prosecution dismissed the request made
by the joint attorneys of the Dink family to allocate one prosecutor
to the investigation of the murder of the former chief editor of the
Armenian Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink. Dink was killed on 19 January
2007 in front of his office in Istanbul.
Lawyer Fethiye Cetin submitted a petition to the Chief Prosecution
on 28 April. The joint attorneys of the Dink family had requested
to expand the investigation and to appoint a new prosecutor or one
prosecutor from the group of prosecutors concerned with the file to
carry out the investigation.
No special contingent for Dink investigation The lawyers emphasized
in the petition that the plan of the murder consisted of stages like
"preparation", "creating public awareness", "action" and, after the
killing, the phase of "manipulation" and "destroying and covering
up evidence".
The petition reads, "It is the unquestionable truth that the killing
of Hrant Dink was an operation organized and realized in different
stages by a professional organization". Thereupon, the officials on
duty prior to the murder did not take precautions. These hints should
be evaluated, the petition continued.
Who are the responsible officials?
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has merged the five
applications made in the context of the Hrant Dink murder into one
case. Many aspects of the case have not been revealed yet. It is
not even clear which public officials can be held responsible for
the murder.
The 2nd Magistrate Criminal Court of Trabzon (eastern Black Sea coast)
previously rejected the demand of the Istanbul 14th High Criminal
Court to merge the Trabzon file with the file in Istanbul. Eight
gendarmerie officers are tried before the court in Trabzon under
charges of "basic negligence" related to the Dink murder.
Still not clear how many people shot A secret witness was heard in
the 13th hearing of the murder case on 10 May. The witness stated that
prime suspect Ogun Samast was not on his own when he shot journalist
Dink on 19 January 2007 in front of his office in Å~^iÅ~_li (European
side of Istanbul). The witness claimed that Yasin Hayal and Osman
Hayal were present at the scene of crime.
The trial will be continued on 12 July. (EO/VK)