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THE GUARDIAN: STATE OFFICIALS WERE COMPLICIT IN DINK'S MURDER
PanARMENIAN.Net
January 18, 2012 - 18:39 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Amnesty International's Turkey researcher,
Andrew Gardner commented on Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink
assassination.
"There has been evidence since the time of the murder five years ago
indicating that those on trial were working as part of a network,
that state officials were complicit in the murder. This has been
acknowledged by the Dink family lawyers, defendants in the case,
the prosecutor and a state administrative investigation. Yet
those individuals were not investigated effectively, they were not
prosecuted," Andrew Gardner said.
Lawyers representing the Dink family had repeatedly asked the court
to summon several witnesses, among them senior police officers in
Istanbul and Trabzon, but these requests were rejected. They also
presented evidence to the court that the Istanbul police had been
informed about a murder plot against Dink, but ignored the warnings.
"It is a damning indictment of justice in Turkey, sending the message
that those in positions of power will be protected and human rights
violations by state officials will go unpunished," said Gardner.
"The investigation, the prosecution and the verdict were largely
irrelevant to achieving justice for Hrant Dink," The Guardian quoted
Andrew Gardner as saying.
Hrant Dink was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007 by an ultranationalist
teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in Istanbul in broad
daylight. The investigation into his murder has stalled; the suspected
perpetrator and his accomplices were put on trial, but those who
masterminded the plot to kill him have yet to be exposed and punished.
PanARMENIAN.Net
January 18, 2012 - 18:39 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Amnesty International's Turkey researcher,
Andrew Gardner commented on Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink
assassination.
"There has been evidence since the time of the murder five years ago
indicating that those on trial were working as part of a network,
that state officials were complicit in the murder. This has been
acknowledged by the Dink family lawyers, defendants in the case,
the prosecutor and a state administrative investigation. Yet
those individuals were not investigated effectively, they were not
prosecuted," Andrew Gardner said.
Lawyers representing the Dink family had repeatedly asked the court
to summon several witnesses, among them senior police officers in
Istanbul and Trabzon, but these requests were rejected. They also
presented evidence to the court that the Istanbul police had been
informed about a murder plot against Dink, but ignored the warnings.
"It is a damning indictment of justice in Turkey, sending the message
that those in positions of power will be protected and human rights
violations by state officials will go unpunished," said Gardner.
"The investigation, the prosecution and the verdict were largely
irrelevant to achieving justice for Hrant Dink," The Guardian quoted
Andrew Gardner as saying.
Hrant Dink was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007 by an ultranationalist
teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in Istanbul in broad
daylight. The investigation into his murder has stalled; the suspected
perpetrator and his accomplices were put on trial, but those who
masterminded the plot to kill him have yet to be exposed and punished.