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LAWYERS DEMAND ALL RESPONSIBLE IN DINK MURDER BE TRIED TOGETHER
Zaman
July 26, 2011
Turkey
Ogun Samast was sentenced to 21.6 years in prison for assassinating
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. (Photo: AA)
A prison sentence of more than 20 years for the assassination of
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was handed down by an İstanbul
court on Monday. While the decision was hailed by Dink family lawyers,
they also emphasized that justice will not be served unless all
responsible for his assassination are put on trial. Ogun Samast, who
was tried in juvenile court because he was a minor at the time of the
crime, was sentenced to 21 years, six months for "premeditated murder"
and one year, four months for carrying an unlicensed gun.
Arzu Becerik, a lawyer for the Dink family, said that the court gave
Samast the maximum sentence it could. "We asked for a life sentence
and the court gave it. However, the court had to reduce the sentence
because Samast was a juvenile at the time of the crime," she said,
adding that Samast was 16-and-a-half years old when he shot Dink in
January 2007. Dink was editor of the bilingual newspaper Agos. The
court was required to deliver a sentence between 18 and 24 years due
to Samast's age.
"The court has been consistent," she said. However, the lawyers'
demands for merging all related cases have been denied, and the
psychological effect of Samast's sentencing has therefore been
reduced. "Samast was a hitman; there are obviously other people behind
the murder. They should be put on trial together in order for justice
to be served in this case," she said.
Samast was detained a day after the murder. Other suspects, including
Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, were captured in the following days
on charges of soliciting Samast for Dink's assassination. The murder
shocked Turkey, and the ensuing trial became mired in controversy.
Dink's family and human rights activists argued that links between
the suspects in the case and the real masterminds of the murder,
suspected to be in the military and police force, were insufficiently
investigated.
In his final testimony, Samast called for his own acquittal and laid
blame on certain newspapers and columnists, stating what he read
in those papers had incited him to commit the crime. "How would I
have known about Hrant Dink and Agos had the newspapers not written
about them?" Samast asked of the court, adding that he otherwise
would never have acted the way he did. He stated that he has been
rehabilitated and apologized for the "inconvenience" he caused his
country. Samast's case was split from the primary trial after the
adoption of an amendment to the Counterterrorism Law last year allowing
Samast's transfer to juvenile court. The main trial continues at the
14th High Criminal Court in İstanbul, with the next hearing scheduled
for July 29. Samast still faces separate terrorism charges related
to Dink's assassination, along with more than a dozen other suspects,
and could face an additional sentence of up to 16 years in prison.
The case was widely regarded as a test of whether the judiciary
could fully investigate possible negligence on the part of Turkish
authorities, who allegedly had foreknowledge of the plot to kill the
journalist. In June, the Trabzon 2nd Criminal Court of Peace convicted
six of eight suspects in a negligence case over the prevention
of Dink's murder, a rare positive development since the start of
the trial four years ago. The court handed down prison sentences
of six months each for Trabzon army commander Col. Ali Oz and army
intelligence unit director Capt. Metin Yıldız.
To this regard, lawyers for the Dink family stated that although the
decision was welcome, it was unlikely to be a groundbreaking ruling
in the course of the main trial in İstanbul. They had demanded the
prison sentences be based on accomplice charges and that the military
men be tried in the İstanbul court as primary suspects.
Zaman
July 26, 2011
Turkey
Ogun Samast was sentenced to 21.6 years in prison for assassinating
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. (Photo: AA)
A prison sentence of more than 20 years for the assassination of
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was handed down by an İstanbul
court on Monday. While the decision was hailed by Dink family lawyers,
they also emphasized that justice will not be served unless all
responsible for his assassination are put on trial. Ogun Samast, who
was tried in juvenile court because he was a minor at the time of the
crime, was sentenced to 21 years, six months for "premeditated murder"
and one year, four months for carrying an unlicensed gun.
Arzu Becerik, a lawyer for the Dink family, said that the court gave
Samast the maximum sentence it could. "We asked for a life sentence
and the court gave it. However, the court had to reduce the sentence
because Samast was a juvenile at the time of the crime," she said,
adding that Samast was 16-and-a-half years old when he shot Dink in
January 2007. Dink was editor of the bilingual newspaper Agos. The
court was required to deliver a sentence between 18 and 24 years due
to Samast's age.
"The court has been consistent," she said. However, the lawyers'
demands for merging all related cases have been denied, and the
psychological effect of Samast's sentencing has therefore been
reduced. "Samast was a hitman; there are obviously other people behind
the murder. They should be put on trial together in order for justice
to be served in this case," she said.
Samast was detained a day after the murder. Other suspects, including
Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, were captured in the following days
on charges of soliciting Samast for Dink's assassination. The murder
shocked Turkey, and the ensuing trial became mired in controversy.
Dink's family and human rights activists argued that links between
the suspects in the case and the real masterminds of the murder,
suspected to be in the military and police force, were insufficiently
investigated.
In his final testimony, Samast called for his own acquittal and laid
blame on certain newspapers and columnists, stating what he read
in those papers had incited him to commit the crime. "How would I
have known about Hrant Dink and Agos had the newspapers not written
about them?" Samast asked of the court, adding that he otherwise
would never have acted the way he did. He stated that he has been
rehabilitated and apologized for the "inconvenience" he caused his
country. Samast's case was split from the primary trial after the
adoption of an amendment to the Counterterrorism Law last year allowing
Samast's transfer to juvenile court. The main trial continues at the
14th High Criminal Court in İstanbul, with the next hearing scheduled
for July 29. Samast still faces separate terrorism charges related
to Dink's assassination, along with more than a dozen other suspects,
and could face an additional sentence of up to 16 years in prison.
The case was widely regarded as a test of whether the judiciary
could fully investigate possible negligence on the part of Turkish
authorities, who allegedly had foreknowledge of the plot to kill the
journalist. In June, the Trabzon 2nd Criminal Court of Peace convicted
six of eight suspects in a negligence case over the prevention
of Dink's murder, a rare positive development since the start of
the trial four years ago. The court handed down prison sentences
of six months each for Trabzon army commander Col. Ali Oz and army
intelligence unit director Capt. Metin Yıldız.
To this regard, lawyers for the Dink family stated that although the
decision was welcome, it was unlikely to be a groundbreaking ruling
in the course of the main trial in İstanbul. They had demanded the
prison sentences be based on accomplice charges and that the military
men be tried in the İstanbul court as primary suspects.