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ISTANBUL: Judge hearing Dink appeal convicted him in first place

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  • ISTANBUL: Judge hearing Dink appeal convicted him in first place

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    Dec 21 2012


    Judge hearing Dink appeal convicted him in first place


    21 December 2012 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, Ä°STANBUL ,
    The judge and prosecutor who have been assigned to hear the appeal of
    the Hrant Dink murder trial are the same individuals who ruled against
    the Turkish-Armenian journalist prior to his murder for violating the
    infamous Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 301, which criminalized
    `insulting Turkishness.'
    Dink was shot dead in broad daylight outside his office by an
    ultranationalist teenager in January 2007. During the four-year trial,
    evidence established that the assassination was carried out in
    collusion with the gendarmerie and police force, but the judge in his
    verdict found that the hitman and another suspect accused of inciting
    him to murder had acted alone. The judge later said he knew that there
    was an organized crime link behind the murder, but accused the
    prosecutor of not having established this as fact, in a publicized
    debate between the two.

    Lawyers for the Dink family appealed the case and the 9th Criminal
    Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals will process the appeal.
    According to the Taraf daily, the judge assigned to the murder trial
    review, Ekrem ErtuÄ?rul, and Hasan Erbil, the prosecutor who will
    prepare the necessary documents for the court, were responsible for
    Dink's conviction over violating Article 301, which was slightly
    reworded after Dink's death. The slain journalist had referred to
    Article 301, or just 301 as it is commonly called, as `my death
    certificate' prior to the murder, according to family and friends.
    Many feel that this is true as the 301 conviction brought Dink into
    the limelight and to the attention of ultranationalist groups.

    Taraf's report follows earlier news about the election of Mehmet Nihat
    Ã-meroÄ?lu, a retired member of the Supreme Court of Appeals, as
    Turkey's first chief ombudsman. After his election, it emerged that
    Ã-meroÄ?lu was one of the judges on the Supreme Court of Appeals who
    approved a local court's ruling against Dink over charges of
    `insulting Turkishness' according to Article 301. Observers have said
    that the government's choice indicated an inclination toward state
    authoritarianism, which defeats the purpose of having an ombudsman's
    office in the first place.

    The Dink family's lawyers are specifically interested in the high
    court's final say on the Ä°stanbul 14th High Criminal Court's finding
    that there was no organized crime link behind Dink's murder. The 9th
    Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeal might also find the sentences
    given to the suspects to be too low or too high, but the real
    expectation is for it to overrule the no organized crime link ruling
    and ask for a larger investigation, which is one of the possibilities
    ahead in the appeal case.

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