Agence France Presse
January 10, 2013 Thursday 7:53 PM GMT

Turkey prosecutor wants Dink ruling overturned: report

ISTANBUL, Jan 10 2013

Turkey’s top prosecutor on Thursday asked the appeals court to
overturn a ruling that the murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink was not planned as part of a wider conspiracy, Anatolia news
agency reported.

“It is clear that the accused killed Hrant Dink on January 19, 2007,
only because he belonged to another religion and nationality,” the
prosecutor of Turkey’s supreme appeals court said in a notice.

“The killing should be evaluated as an action to disrupt the unity of
the state, carried out by an organisation in a systematic, organised
and planned manner.”

A leading member of Turkey’s tiny Armenian community, Dink, 52, was
shot dead in broad daylight outside the offices of his bilingual
weekly newspaper Agos.

In 2011, an Istanbul court sentenced Dink’s self-confessed killer Ogun
Samast, a 17-year old high-school dropout, to 23 years in jail while
Yasin Hayal received life imprisonment for inciting the murder.

More than a dozen suspects were acquitted on criminal network charges
as the court ruled there was no wider plot to kill Dink as alleged by
his supporters.

His assassination had sent shockwaves through Turkey and grew into a
wider scandal following reports that state security forces had known
of a plot to kill Dink but failed to act.

Every year since Dink’s murder, thousands have been gathering in front
of Agos on the day of his murder to pay tribute to Dink, whose
life-long campaign for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians won
him as many enemies as admirers.

More than 20 people will have to stand for a re-trial if the top
appeals court decides in favour of the prosecutor’s request.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress