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TURKISH COURT ACQUITS SUSPECT OVER DINK MURDER CASE
www.WorldBulletin.net
Feb 13 2012
Turkey
Ýðci said at the court that he had informed gendarmerie intelligence
officers in Trabzon that a plan to assassinate Dink was in place four
months prior to the murder.
A court has acquitted Coþkun Ýðci, one of 19 defendants in the murder
case of Hrant Dink, the founder and former editor-in-chief of the
Armenian-Turkish Agos weekly who was assassinated in 2007 in front
of his office in Ýstanbul, after forgetting to include him in the
final verdict in January.
Ýðci, who allegedly called on Yasin Hayal to buy a gun with which to
shoot Dink, was accidentally left out of the final verdict and the
judge issued a ruling separately for him on Monday.
On Sept. 19, 2011, the prosecution recommended his acquittal on the
grounds that there was no substantial evidence to suggest he took
part in the crime.
Ýðci's lawyer said at the court on Monday that his client has no
ties to the murder except for being the uncle of Hayal, one of the
main suspects.
Ýðci said at the court that he had informed gendarmerie intelligence
officers in Trabzon that a plan to assassinate Dink was in place four
months prior to the murder.
"I am not guilty. The people I reported about were tried in Trabzon
and they were punished because they neglected their duties. Those
people are Col. Ali Oz, Capt. Metin Yýldýz, non-commissioned officer
Orhan Þimþek and Sgt. Veysel Þahin," he said.
When a judge at the court asked Ýðci if he had been in contact with
those four people, Ýðci replied that he had contacted Þimþek and Þahin.
The Ýstanbul 14th High Criminal Court hearing issued its ruling on
Jan. 17 in the 25th hearing of the case. Hayal and Erhan Tuncel,
the main suspects, who were accused of being instigators, and all
other suspects, were cleared of charges of membership in an outlawed
organization.
The prosecutor and the Dink family's lawyers accused them of acting
under the orders of a clandestine criminal network suspected of having
ties with senior state officials and military and police officers.
The court handed down a life sentence to Hayal, while Tuncel was given
10 years and six months in prison for his involvement in the bombing
of a McDonald's restaurant in 2004. Gunman Ogun Samast was sentenced
last July to nearly 23 years in prison by a separate juvenile court.
Tuncel was released.
From: A. Papazian
www.WorldBulletin.net
Feb 13 2012
Turkey
Ýðci said at the court that he had informed gendarmerie intelligence
officers in Trabzon that a plan to assassinate Dink was in place four
months prior to the murder.
A court has acquitted Coþkun Ýðci, one of 19 defendants in the murder
case of Hrant Dink, the founder and former editor-in-chief of the
Armenian-Turkish Agos weekly who was assassinated in 2007 in front
of his office in Ýstanbul, after forgetting to include him in the
final verdict in January.
Ýðci, who allegedly called on Yasin Hayal to buy a gun with which to
shoot Dink, was accidentally left out of the final verdict and the
judge issued a ruling separately for him on Monday.
On Sept. 19, 2011, the prosecution recommended his acquittal on the
grounds that there was no substantial evidence to suggest he took
part in the crime.
Ýðci's lawyer said at the court on Monday that his client has no
ties to the murder except for being the uncle of Hayal, one of the
main suspects.
Ýðci said at the court that he had informed gendarmerie intelligence
officers in Trabzon that a plan to assassinate Dink was in place four
months prior to the murder.
"I am not guilty. The people I reported about were tried in Trabzon
and they were punished because they neglected their duties. Those
people are Col. Ali Oz, Capt. Metin Yýldýz, non-commissioned officer
Orhan Þimþek and Sgt. Veysel Þahin," he said.
When a judge at the court asked Ýðci if he had been in contact with
those four people, Ýðci replied that he had contacted Þimþek and Þahin.
The Ýstanbul 14th High Criminal Court hearing issued its ruling on
Jan. 17 in the 25th hearing of the case. Hayal and Erhan Tuncel,
the main suspects, who were accused of being instigators, and all
other suspects, were cleared of charges of membership in an outlawed
organization.
The prosecutor and the Dink family's lawyers accused them of acting
under the orders of a clandestine criminal network suspected of having
ties with senior state officials and military and police officers.
The court handed down a life sentence to Hayal, while Tuncel was given
10 years and six months in prison for his involvement in the bombing
of a McDonald's restaurant in 2004. Gunman Ogun Samast was sentenced
last July to nearly 23 years in prison by a separate juvenile court.
Tuncel was released.
From: A. Papazian