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DINK FAMILY LAWYERS TO APPEAL TO ECHR
Erol Onderoðlu
BIA
March 11 2008
Turkey
After a court has found the Trabzon police innocent of gross
negligence, Dink family lawyers are preparing to appeal to the ECHR.
The RSF has called for the prosecution of all those responsible.
It has been more than a year now that journalist Hrant Dink, editor
of the weekly Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was gunned down and
killed in front of his office in Istanbul on 19 January 2007.
The investigation of the murder has been unsatisfactory; for instance,
there is evidence that the Trabzon police was told many times of the
planned murder, but failed to act. However, so far only the suspected
gunman and a group of mostly young men involved in the planning of
the murder have been put on trial, as well as two gendarmerie officers
in Trabzon.
Trabzon police "not negligent" On 10 January of this year, the Chief
Public Prosecution in Trabzon, in northeastern Turkey, decided not
to prosecute seven police officers of the Trabzon police force for
gross negligence in the murder of Hrant Dink.
Following the objection of lawyers of the Dink family, the case was
taken to the Rize Heavy Penal Court. It has rejected the objection
of the lawyers.
Bahri Bayram Belen, one of the lawyers for the Dink family and a
joint attorney in the murder trial, told bianet that they have not yet
been officially informed of the decision, but that they will appeal
to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as soon as possible.
Police "turned a blind eye" He said, "Some officers in the Trabzon
police, gendarmerie and related intelligence units turned a blind
eye to [information telling them about a planned murder] and caused
Hrant Dink's death. This case is very important for us. We had even
demanded that the case of the two gendarmerie officers being tried
in Trabzon be joined with this case."
According to the decree of the Rize court, there will be no trial
against former intelligence chief Engin Dinc, former anti-terrorism
chief Yahya Ozturk or five other police officers from the Trabzon
police department for obscuring evidence, gross negligence and
protecting criminals.
Based on witness accounts, the Dink family had filed a criminal
complaint with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecution. However, the
prosecution had decided that the case was not in their jurisdiction
and had sent the file to the Trabzon prosecution, despite the argument
of the Dink family that the case should be tried as a whole.
The Trabzon prosecution then decided that there was no clear and
convincing proof for prosecution. After the objection, the nearest
heavy penal court in Rize confirmed this decision, saying there was no
evidence of gross negligence or previous knowledge of the murder plans.
RSF: Police officers also need to be put on trial Meanwhile,
the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a new press
release on 6 March, in which it criticised the lack of progress which
a parliamentary subcommittee for human rights was making in its probe
into the murder.
Senior police and gendarmerie officials from Istanbul and the Trabzon
blamed each other for the failure to take the necessary measures to
prevent Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink's murder when they were
questioned at the end of last month by the parliamentary subcommittee.
"We reiterate our call for all those investigating the role of
the security forces in connection with the Dink murder to make
every effort to establish who was responsible for what," Reporters
Without Borders said. "To this end, we think it is important that
the police officers implicated should be tried at the same time as
Dink's alleged murderers."
Trabzon and Istanbul police accuse each other When the parliamentary
subcommittee questioned Trabzon intelligence department chief Engin
Dinc on 28 February, he reportedly identified Erhan Tuncel, who is
charged with being one of the masterminds of Dink's murder, as a
police informer. Dinc said he only spoke with Tuncel once to ask
him to convince Yasin Hayal, another of the Dink trial defendants,
not to kill Dink.
Dinc accused Ahmet Ilhan Guler, the head of the Istanbul police
intelligence department, of failing to react after the Trabzon police
issued an alert about a murder plot. The accusation had already
been made to the subcommittee by former Trabzon police chief Ramazan
Akyurek, now head of police intelligence in Ankara.
During his appearance before the subcommittee, Akyurek said
he alerted the police in 81 cities of "possible attacks against
minorities," adding that "it was not necessary to identify Hrant Dink
by name." Akyurek directly accused Istanbul police chief Celalettin
Cerrah of failing to react to his alert.
According to Agos, the subcommittee has decide to question Cerrah
again, this time in Ankara.
The Dink family and its lawyers are calling for all the Trabzon and
Istanbul police officers involved in the case to be charged and tried
in Istanbul.
--Boundary_(ID_USvWSdoEBMi9vHlXb6sWJA)- -
Erol Onderoðlu
BIA
March 11 2008
Turkey
After a court has found the Trabzon police innocent of gross
negligence, Dink family lawyers are preparing to appeal to the ECHR.
The RSF has called for the prosecution of all those responsible.
It has been more than a year now that journalist Hrant Dink, editor
of the weekly Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was gunned down and
killed in front of his office in Istanbul on 19 January 2007.
The investigation of the murder has been unsatisfactory; for instance,
there is evidence that the Trabzon police was told many times of the
planned murder, but failed to act. However, so far only the suspected
gunman and a group of mostly young men involved in the planning of
the murder have been put on trial, as well as two gendarmerie officers
in Trabzon.
Trabzon police "not negligent" On 10 January of this year, the Chief
Public Prosecution in Trabzon, in northeastern Turkey, decided not
to prosecute seven police officers of the Trabzon police force for
gross negligence in the murder of Hrant Dink.
Following the objection of lawyers of the Dink family, the case was
taken to the Rize Heavy Penal Court. It has rejected the objection
of the lawyers.
Bahri Bayram Belen, one of the lawyers for the Dink family and a
joint attorney in the murder trial, told bianet that they have not yet
been officially informed of the decision, but that they will appeal
to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as soon as possible.
Police "turned a blind eye" He said, "Some officers in the Trabzon
police, gendarmerie and related intelligence units turned a blind
eye to [information telling them about a planned murder] and caused
Hrant Dink's death. This case is very important for us. We had even
demanded that the case of the two gendarmerie officers being tried
in Trabzon be joined with this case."
According to the decree of the Rize court, there will be no trial
against former intelligence chief Engin Dinc, former anti-terrorism
chief Yahya Ozturk or five other police officers from the Trabzon
police department for obscuring evidence, gross negligence and
protecting criminals.
Based on witness accounts, the Dink family had filed a criminal
complaint with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecution. However, the
prosecution had decided that the case was not in their jurisdiction
and had sent the file to the Trabzon prosecution, despite the argument
of the Dink family that the case should be tried as a whole.
The Trabzon prosecution then decided that there was no clear and
convincing proof for prosecution. After the objection, the nearest
heavy penal court in Rize confirmed this decision, saying there was no
evidence of gross negligence or previous knowledge of the murder plans.
RSF: Police officers also need to be put on trial Meanwhile,
the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a new press
release on 6 March, in which it criticised the lack of progress which
a parliamentary subcommittee for human rights was making in its probe
into the murder.
Senior police and gendarmerie officials from Istanbul and the Trabzon
blamed each other for the failure to take the necessary measures to
prevent Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink's murder when they were
questioned at the end of last month by the parliamentary subcommittee.
"We reiterate our call for all those investigating the role of
the security forces in connection with the Dink murder to make
every effort to establish who was responsible for what," Reporters
Without Borders said. "To this end, we think it is important that
the police officers implicated should be tried at the same time as
Dink's alleged murderers."
Trabzon and Istanbul police accuse each other When the parliamentary
subcommittee questioned Trabzon intelligence department chief Engin
Dinc on 28 February, he reportedly identified Erhan Tuncel, who is
charged with being one of the masterminds of Dink's murder, as a
police informer. Dinc said he only spoke with Tuncel once to ask
him to convince Yasin Hayal, another of the Dink trial defendants,
not to kill Dink.
Dinc accused Ahmet Ilhan Guler, the head of the Istanbul police
intelligence department, of failing to react after the Trabzon police
issued an alert about a murder plot. The accusation had already
been made to the subcommittee by former Trabzon police chief Ramazan
Akyurek, now head of police intelligence in Ankara.
During his appearance before the subcommittee, Akyurek said
he alerted the police in 81 cities of "possible attacks against
minorities," adding that "it was not necessary to identify Hrant Dink
by name." Akyurek directly accused Istanbul police chief Celalettin
Cerrah of failing to react to his alert.
According to Agos, the subcommittee has decide to question Cerrah
again, this time in Ankara.
The Dink family and its lawyers are calling for all the Trabzon and
Istanbul police officers involved in the case to be charged and tried
in Istanbul.
--Boundary_(ID_USvWSdoEBMi9vHlXb6sWJA)- -