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http://www.economist.com/node/21543217
Jan 21st 2012
His supporters protest over the verdict in the Hrant Dink murder trial
..THEY never expected real justice. But when an Istanbul court gave
its verdict this week at the end of a controversial trial for the
2007 murder of Hrant Dink, an Armenian newspaper editor, his family
and lawyers were still shocked. The judge acquitted all 19 defendants
on charges of belonging to an ~Sarmed terrorist organisation~T. Just
one received a life sentence for conspiring to murder Mr Dink, who
was gunned down in broad daylight outside the offices of AGOS, an
Armenian weekly. Another suspect who had worked as an informant for
the intelligence services was cleared, only to be sentenced instead
to over ten years in jail for the 2004 bombing of a McDonald~Rs
restaurant in Trabzon.
Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer and close family friend, described the trial
as a ~Scomedy from start to finish.~T ~SBut they reserved the biggest
joke for last,~T she added, as she stood outside the courthouse
alongside Mr Dink~Rs stony-faced widow, Rakel.
Mr Dink, who deconstructed myths around the 1915 massacres of some 1.5m
Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, ran afoul of the authorities when he
called the episode genocide. He was slapped with a docket of court
cases accusing him of ~Sinsulting the Turkish identity~T. Another
crime was to have exposed the Armenian roots of Ataturk~Rs adopted
daughter and Turkey~Rs first female pilot, Sabiha Gokcen. Mr Dink
wrote several prescient columns predicting his own tragic end after
the authorities had warned him to keep in line.
ReprintsThe murder trial was seen as a test of the ruling Justice
and Development (AK) Party~Rs commitment to the rule of law. For
Turkey~Rs 60,000 ethnic Armenians, justice for Mr Dink might have
salved the wounds of the past. ~SThis verdict sends a clear message
that Armenians are fair game,~T said an Armenian businessman. Turkey~Rs
prime minister noted that the outcome had ~Sdisturbed the public~Rs
conscience~T and said the appeals process was not yet exhausted.
Even Turkey~Rs allies worry about its legal system. In a report
citing Mr Dink~Rs case, Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe~Rs
human-rights commissioner, rebuked Turkish judges and prosecutors for
~Sgiving precedence to the protection of the state over the protection
of human rights.~T He criticised lengthy pre-trial detention periods
of up to ten years. A former chief of staff, Ilker Basbug, recently
joined several other generals in pre-trial detention.
Sadullah Ergin, the justice minister, has announced reforms to reduce
sentences for supposed terror crimes~Wsuch as praising the imprisoned
Kurdish rebel chief, Abdullah Ocalan~Wand to raise the bar for evidence
to detain suspects. These are welcome, if modest, steps. But they
are too late for the scores of journalists, hundreds of students and
thousands of Kurdish politicians and protesters still behind bars.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://www.economist.com/node/21543217
Jan 21st 2012
His supporters protest over the verdict in the Hrant Dink murder trial
..THEY never expected real justice. But when an Istanbul court gave
its verdict this week at the end of a controversial trial for the
2007 murder of Hrant Dink, an Armenian newspaper editor, his family
and lawyers were still shocked. The judge acquitted all 19 defendants
on charges of belonging to an ~Sarmed terrorist organisation~T. Just
one received a life sentence for conspiring to murder Mr Dink, who
was gunned down in broad daylight outside the offices of AGOS, an
Armenian weekly. Another suspect who had worked as an informant for
the intelligence services was cleared, only to be sentenced instead
to over ten years in jail for the 2004 bombing of a McDonald~Rs
restaurant in Trabzon.
Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer and close family friend, described the trial
as a ~Scomedy from start to finish.~T ~SBut they reserved the biggest
joke for last,~T she added, as she stood outside the courthouse
alongside Mr Dink~Rs stony-faced widow, Rakel.
Mr Dink, who deconstructed myths around the 1915 massacres of some 1.5m
Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, ran afoul of the authorities when he
called the episode genocide. He was slapped with a docket of court
cases accusing him of ~Sinsulting the Turkish identity~T. Another
crime was to have exposed the Armenian roots of Ataturk~Rs adopted
daughter and Turkey~Rs first female pilot, Sabiha Gokcen. Mr Dink
wrote several prescient columns predicting his own tragic end after
the authorities had warned him to keep in line.
ReprintsThe murder trial was seen as a test of the ruling Justice
and Development (AK) Party~Rs commitment to the rule of law. For
Turkey~Rs 60,000 ethnic Armenians, justice for Mr Dink might have
salved the wounds of the past. ~SThis verdict sends a clear message
that Armenians are fair game,~T said an Armenian businessman. Turkey~Rs
prime minister noted that the outcome had ~Sdisturbed the public~Rs
conscience~T and said the appeals process was not yet exhausted.
Even Turkey~Rs allies worry about its legal system. In a report
citing Mr Dink~Rs case, Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe~Rs
human-rights commissioner, rebuked Turkish judges and prosecutors for
~Sgiving precedence to the protection of the state over the protection
of human rights.~T He criticised lengthy pre-trial detention periods
of up to ten years. A former chief of staff, Ilker Basbug, recently
joined several other generals in pre-trial detention.
Sadullah Ergin, the justice minister, has announced reforms to reduce
sentences for supposed terror crimes~Wsuch as praising the imprisoned
Kurdish rebel chief, Abdullah Ocalan~Wand to raise the bar for evidence
to detain suspects. These are welcome, if modest, steps. But they
are too late for the scores of journalists, hundreds of students and
thousands of Kurdish politicians and protesters still behind bars.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress