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Reporters without borders (press release), France
July 8 2008
In first open hearing in Hrant Dink murder trial, court rejects merger
with parallel cases implicating police officers
The sixth hearing in the trial of newspaper editor Hrant Dink's
alleged murderers was held yesterday in Istanbul and for the first
time since it began just over a year ago, the press was able to attend
because the leading suspect, Ogün Samast, the youth from the
city of Trabzon who allegedly shot Dink, has now turned 18.
The court yesterday heard evidence from several witnesses and
considered requests from lawyers representing the Dink family. Some
progress was made but the court continued to refuse to accede to the
family's request to merge the case with two other cases under way in
Trabzon and Samzun involving police officers who allegedly had prior
knowledge of the murder plot or demonstrated sympathy for the alleged
shooter.
Those who gave evidence yesterday included police informer Coskun
Igci, one of the 19 defendants. He claimed that he did everything
possible to dissuade alleged mastermind Yasin Hayal, his former
brother-in-law, from committing or plotting Dink's murder. He added
that he finally warned the two gendarmes with whom he had a connection
that he had come to the conclusion that Hayal would not abandon his
plan.
Three witnesses, including two employees of Dink's Armenian-Turkish
newspaper Agos, yesterday identified Samast as the man who shot Dink
outside the newspaper's office in Istanbul on 19 January 2007 and then
fled down Safak Street.
At the request of the Dink family's lawyers, the court asked about
Hayal's contacts with the outside world while in prison in Trabzon in
2004 for the bombing of a McDonald's in the city. The Turkish prison
authority will have to provide passwords giving access to the prison's
computer records of the visits Hayal received. A copy of the
intercepts of his telephone calls from November 2005 to 19 January
2007 will also have to be handed over to the court.
In an attempt to assess the role played by Erhan Tuncel, another
alleged mastermind, and whether he really did, as he claims, alert the
authorities in Trabzon before the murder, the court has requested the
real names of the intelligence officers with whom Tuncel says he was
in contact. Until now, they have been referred to by their code names
of `Memduh,' `Ã-zgur,' `Ahmet' and `Kürsat.'
The judges also expressed their desire to hear evidence from two
members of the Trabzon intelligence service, Engin Dinç and
Ercan Delir, and asked Microsoft to provide details of Tuncel's email
and MMS correspondence.
The Istanbul police were also asked to provide the court with
information about any threats Dink may have received prior to his
murder.
The court refused to merge the Istanbul trial with the two other cases
under way in Trabzon and Samzun despite the insistence of the Dink
family's lawyers that this is essential for the trial's success. In
Trabzon, two gendarmes are being prosecuted on charges of `negligence
in the exercise of their duties.' In Samsun, two members of the
security forces are on trial for posing with Samast for a photograph
following his arrest on the day after the murder.
The next hearing has been set for 13 October. The court still has to
hear testimony from 13 other witness before beginning to consider
material evidence.
July 8 2008
In first open hearing in Hrant Dink murder trial, court rejects merger
with parallel cases implicating police officers
The sixth hearing in the trial of newspaper editor Hrant Dink's
alleged murderers was held yesterday in Istanbul and for the first
time since it began just over a year ago, the press was able to attend
because the leading suspect, Ogün Samast, the youth from the
city of Trabzon who allegedly shot Dink, has now turned 18.
The court yesterday heard evidence from several witnesses and
considered requests from lawyers representing the Dink family. Some
progress was made but the court continued to refuse to accede to the
family's request to merge the case with two other cases under way in
Trabzon and Samzun involving police officers who allegedly had prior
knowledge of the murder plot or demonstrated sympathy for the alleged
shooter.
Those who gave evidence yesterday included police informer Coskun
Igci, one of the 19 defendants. He claimed that he did everything
possible to dissuade alleged mastermind Yasin Hayal, his former
brother-in-law, from committing or plotting Dink's murder. He added
that he finally warned the two gendarmes with whom he had a connection
that he had come to the conclusion that Hayal would not abandon his
plan.
Three witnesses, including two employees of Dink's Armenian-Turkish
newspaper Agos, yesterday identified Samast as the man who shot Dink
outside the newspaper's office in Istanbul on 19 January 2007 and then
fled down Safak Street.
At the request of the Dink family's lawyers, the court asked about
Hayal's contacts with the outside world while in prison in Trabzon in
2004 for the bombing of a McDonald's in the city. The Turkish prison
authority will have to provide passwords giving access to the prison's
computer records of the visits Hayal received. A copy of the
intercepts of his telephone calls from November 2005 to 19 January
2007 will also have to be handed over to the court.
In an attempt to assess the role played by Erhan Tuncel, another
alleged mastermind, and whether he really did, as he claims, alert the
authorities in Trabzon before the murder, the court has requested the
real names of the intelligence officers with whom Tuncel says he was
in contact. Until now, they have been referred to by their code names
of `Memduh,' `Ã-zgur,' `Ahmet' and `Kürsat.'
The judges also expressed their desire to hear evidence from two
members of the Trabzon intelligence service, Engin Dinç and
Ercan Delir, and asked Microsoft to provide details of Tuncel's email
and MMS correspondence.
The Istanbul police were also asked to provide the court with
information about any threats Dink may have received prior to his
murder.
The court refused to merge the Istanbul trial with the two other cases
under way in Trabzon and Samzun despite the insistence of the Dink
family's lawyers that this is essential for the trial's success. In
Trabzon, two gendarmes are being prosecuted on charges of `negligence
in the exercise of their duties.' In Samsun, two members of the
security forces are on trial for posing with Samast for a photograph
following his arrest on the day after the murder.
The next hearing has been set for 13 October. The court still has to
hear testimony from 13 other witness before beginning to consider
material evidence.