Tweet
SUSPECTS IN DINK MURDER ACQUITTED OF TERRORISM CHARGES
By Ivan Watson and Yesim Comert
CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/17/world/europe/turkey-dink-trial/index.html
Jan 17 2012
Istanbul (CNN) -- Nearly five years to the day after a Turkish-Armenian
newspaper editor was gunned down in broad daylight, a judge acquitted
all 19 defendants in his trial of charges that they were members of an
"armed terrorist organization."
One defendant, Yasin Hayal, received a life sentence for conspiring
in the planned killing of Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of the
Armenian-language newspaper "Agos." Prosecutors accused Hayal of
purchasing the murder weapon, a 7.65 millimeter Turkish-produced
handgun. Hayal was also accused of recruiting a 17-year old soccer
player named Ogun Samast to use the gun to kill Dink.
Another defendant, Erhan Tuncel, was cleared of charges in connection
to the murder. Instead, he was sentenced to more than 10 years in
prison for the 2004 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in the Black
Sea city of Trabzon.
Attorneys for the Dink family denounced the sentences, arguing it
downgraded a politically motivated assassination to the level of a
common criminal murder.
"This decision was unexpected," lawyer Fethiye Cetin told journalists
outside the courthouse. Standing next to Dink's widow, Rakel, Cetin
called the trial a "comedy."
"The tradition of the state of political murders and the tradition
of the state to make enemies of some of its citizens by classifying
them as 'others,' this tradition continues," Cetin continued. "This
was was an opportunity for democratization in Turkey, but they did
not seize that opportunity."
Dink was gunned down on the sidewalk outside the Istanbul office of
the Agos newspaper in 2007.
Surveillance cameras caught the convicted murderer, Samast, fleeing the
scene wearing a white hat. The confessed killer was later sentenced to
more than 22 years in prison. He received a lighter sentence because
he was a minor.
At the time of the murder, Dink was defending himself in court against
a number of cases accusing him of "insulting Turkish identity," for
comments made about the massacre of hundreds of thousands of ethnic
Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. Dink argued the
killings amounted to genocide, a term the Turkish state continues to
vehemently deny.
In 2010, the European Court of Human rights fined Turkey more than
$100,000 for failing to "protect the life and freedom of expression"
of Dink.
In interviews before his murder, Dink said he had received death
threats for his outspoken opinions. Investigative journalist Nedim
Sener later wrote in a book that Istanbul police were aware of threats
to Dink's life.
Sener is currently in prison, facing charges of plotting to overthrow
the Turkish government.
"The Turkish authorities have failed to address state officials'
alleged involvement in the killing of journalist and human rights
activist Hrant Dink," Amnesty International wrote this week. "The
security services knew of the murder plot and were in communication
with those accused of the murder yet nothing was done to stop it taking
place... Nothing short of a full investigation into the actions of
all the state institutions and officials implicated in the murder
will represent justice."
After Tuesday's court ruling, Dink's family and attorneys, along with
several hundred supporters, marched in protest through the streets
of Istanbul in sub-zero temperatures carrying signs saying "We are
all Armenian."
By Ivan Watson and Yesim Comert
CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/17/world/europe/turkey-dink-trial/index.html
Jan 17 2012
Istanbul (CNN) -- Nearly five years to the day after a Turkish-Armenian
newspaper editor was gunned down in broad daylight, a judge acquitted
all 19 defendants in his trial of charges that they were members of an
"armed terrorist organization."
One defendant, Yasin Hayal, received a life sentence for conspiring
in the planned killing of Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of the
Armenian-language newspaper "Agos." Prosecutors accused Hayal of
purchasing the murder weapon, a 7.65 millimeter Turkish-produced
handgun. Hayal was also accused of recruiting a 17-year old soccer
player named Ogun Samast to use the gun to kill Dink.
Another defendant, Erhan Tuncel, was cleared of charges in connection
to the murder. Instead, he was sentenced to more than 10 years in
prison for the 2004 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in the Black
Sea city of Trabzon.
Attorneys for the Dink family denounced the sentences, arguing it
downgraded a politically motivated assassination to the level of a
common criminal murder.
"This decision was unexpected," lawyer Fethiye Cetin told journalists
outside the courthouse. Standing next to Dink's widow, Rakel, Cetin
called the trial a "comedy."
"The tradition of the state of political murders and the tradition
of the state to make enemies of some of its citizens by classifying
them as 'others,' this tradition continues," Cetin continued. "This
was was an opportunity for democratization in Turkey, but they did
not seize that opportunity."
Dink was gunned down on the sidewalk outside the Istanbul office of
the Agos newspaper in 2007.
Surveillance cameras caught the convicted murderer, Samast, fleeing the
scene wearing a white hat. The confessed killer was later sentenced to
more than 22 years in prison. He received a lighter sentence because
he was a minor.
At the time of the murder, Dink was defending himself in court against
a number of cases accusing him of "insulting Turkish identity," for
comments made about the massacre of hundreds of thousands of ethnic
Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. Dink argued the
killings amounted to genocide, a term the Turkish state continues to
vehemently deny.
In 2010, the European Court of Human rights fined Turkey more than
$100,000 for failing to "protect the life and freedom of expression"
of Dink.
In interviews before his murder, Dink said he had received death
threats for his outspoken opinions. Investigative journalist Nedim
Sener later wrote in a book that Istanbul police were aware of threats
to Dink's life.
Sener is currently in prison, facing charges of plotting to overthrow
the Turkish government.
"The Turkish authorities have failed to address state officials'
alleged involvement in the killing of journalist and human rights
activist Hrant Dink," Amnesty International wrote this week. "The
security services knew of the murder plot and were in communication
with those accused of the murder yet nothing was done to stop it taking
place... Nothing short of a full investigation into the actions of
all the state institutions and officials implicated in the murder
will represent justice."
After Tuesday's court ruling, Dink's family and attorneys, along with
several hundred supporters, marched in protest through the streets
of Istanbul in sub-zero temperatures carrying signs saying "We are
all Armenian."