Tweet
TRIAL OF ARMENIAN JOURNALIST'S SUSPECTED KILLER IN TURKEY MONITORED CLOSELY BY EU
Lilit Gevorgyan
Global Insight
October 26, 2010
The trial of Ogun Samast, the main suspect in the murder of journalist
Hrant Dink, is now to be transferred to a juvenile court. Yesterday,
an Istanbul court ruled that Samast was under the age of 18 at the
time of the murder. Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent,
was the editor of the weekly Armenian and Turkish publicationAgos.
According to his colleagues and family, he was murdered for his
criticism of the government and calls to look into the killings of
1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during 1915-17, something the
Turkish government continues to deny. He was murdered in front of
the newspaper's headquarters in Istanbul in January 2007. However,
lawyers and Dink supporters argue that hearing the evidence in a
juvenile court fails to address the full scope of the case. Despite
the seriousness of the crime, the Istanbul court ruled unanimously
to transfer the case under the recently adopted law number 6008 on
minors' legal status in adult courts. Samast will now be tried at
the Istanbul Sultanahmet Juvenile Court.
Significance:Nearly four years have passed since Dink's murder in
January 2007, and the case still appears no closer to resolution.
Dink's family lawyers have alleged that some of the evidence has been
covered up in the intervening period. The 14 September 2010 European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision on Dink's murder found the
Turkish state guilty of failing to protect Dink's right to life,
freedom of expression, and right to due legal process in the murder
investigation. Nonetheless, the state officials who were allegedly
negligent in failing to protect Dink will not be included in the new
court setting. Dink's lawyers argue that officials, from the police
and gendarmerie to governors, had been warned of threats on Dink's life
before the time of his murder. They have also pointed to the decision
of the ECHR and argued that the Turkish government has blocked attempts
at more thorough investigations into the murder. The case is being
monitored closely by representatives from a number of European Union
(EU) law associations, as well as the ECHR. It is an important test
for the Turkish judiciary, which saw a raft of changes introduced by
the September 2010 constitutional referendum. The trial will also
have a wider implication for Turkey's image in the European bloc,
which the country is keen to join as a full member. Freedom of speech
is an area in which the Turkish government has to improve dramatically
and bring up to EU standards, something that the current Justice and
Development Party government has pledged to do. Dink's case will be
a great opportunity for the Turkish political establishment to prove
its commitment to those reform plans.
From: A. Papazian
Lilit Gevorgyan
Global Insight
October 26, 2010
The trial of Ogun Samast, the main suspect in the murder of journalist
Hrant Dink, is now to be transferred to a juvenile court. Yesterday,
an Istanbul court ruled that Samast was under the age of 18 at the
time of the murder. Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent,
was the editor of the weekly Armenian and Turkish publicationAgos.
According to his colleagues and family, he was murdered for his
criticism of the government and calls to look into the killings of
1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during 1915-17, something the
Turkish government continues to deny. He was murdered in front of
the newspaper's headquarters in Istanbul in January 2007. However,
lawyers and Dink supporters argue that hearing the evidence in a
juvenile court fails to address the full scope of the case. Despite
the seriousness of the crime, the Istanbul court ruled unanimously
to transfer the case under the recently adopted law number 6008 on
minors' legal status in adult courts. Samast will now be tried at
the Istanbul Sultanahmet Juvenile Court.
Significance:Nearly four years have passed since Dink's murder in
January 2007, and the case still appears no closer to resolution.
Dink's family lawyers have alleged that some of the evidence has been
covered up in the intervening period. The 14 September 2010 European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision on Dink's murder found the
Turkish state guilty of failing to protect Dink's right to life,
freedom of expression, and right to due legal process in the murder
investigation. Nonetheless, the state officials who were allegedly
negligent in failing to protect Dink will not be included in the new
court setting. Dink's lawyers argue that officials, from the police
and gendarmerie to governors, had been warned of threats on Dink's life
before the time of his murder. They have also pointed to the decision
of the ECHR and argued that the Turkish government has blocked attempts
at more thorough investigations into the murder. The case is being
monitored closely by representatives from a number of European Union
(EU) law associations, as well as the ECHR. It is an important test
for the Turkish judiciary, which saw a raft of changes introduced by
the September 2010 constitutional referendum. The trial will also
have a wider implication for Turkey's image in the European bloc,
which the country is keen to join as a full member. Freedom of speech
is an area in which the Turkish government has to improve dramatically
and bring up to EU standards, something that the current Justice and
Development Party government has pledged to do. Dink's case will be
a great opportunity for the Turkish political establishment to prove
its commitment to those reform plans.
From: A. Papazian