HRANT DINK MURDER SUSPECT REFERRED TO COURT
, Turkey
Oct 24 2013
Erhan Tuncel was referred to Ä°stanbul’s Caglayan Court on Thursday.
Erhan Tuncel, who was previously acquitted of all charges related
to the 2007 killing of Hrant Dink, the late editor-in-chief of the
Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was referred to Ä°stanbul’s Caglayan
Court on Thursday.
The Ä°stanbul 14th High Criminal Court, which has started a retrial
in the Dink investigation, issued an arrest warrant for Tuncel last
month and he was detained by police on Wednesday.
The Ä°stanbul court launched the retrial of the Dink probe after
the Supreme Court of Appeals in May overturned the Ä°stanbul court’s
ruling of Jan. 17, 2012, in which it dismissed the involvement of an
organized criminal network in the murder.
Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon Police Department,
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the 2004 bombing
of a McDonald’s restaurant in the Black Sea town of Trabzon but
was acquitted of all charges regarding the Dink murder, including
prosecutors’ claims in the first trial that he was the one who ordered
Yasin Hayal, the man who was given a life sentence for soliciting
Dink’s shooter, to murder him.
Dink’s lawyers earlier said the Supreme Court of Appeals’ 9th Criminal
Chamber had indicated in its May decision that Tuncel may have played
a crucial role in the murder of Dink.
Hayal and Tuncel, along with all other defendants, were cleared
of charges of membership in a terrorist organization in the local
court’s ruling.
Dink was shot and killed in broad daylight on Jan. 19, 2007, by an
ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in
Ä°stanbul. Evidence discovered since then has led to claims that the
murder was linked to the “deep state,” a term used in reference to
a shady group of military and civilian bureaucrats believed to have
links to criminal elements.
The next hearing of the case will be on Dec. 3.
In an interview with the Star daily on Wednesday, Tuncel said his
arrest warrant was illegal and blamed the gendarmerie for having a
“big role” in the murder of the Armenian journalist.
Cihan
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress