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MINISTER SAYS 9 SECURITY OFFICIALS RECEIVED ADMINISTRATIVE PUNISHMENTS IN DINK CASE
Today's Zaman
May 6 2012
Turkey
Interior Minister Ä°dris Naim Å~^ahin has said nine security officials
were given administrative punishments for negligence in failing to
prevent the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
Responding to parliamentary questions from Turgut Dibek, a deputy from
the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), about Dink's
murder, Å~^ahin said five officials were sentenced to forfeiture of
monthly salary, three were given motions of censure and one was given
a warning. He said no investigation was allowed for eight officials,
prosecution was decided against for 31 and two were acquitted by
a court.
Dink, the late editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot dead by an
ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in broad
daylight in Ä°stanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. A juvenile court sentenced
Dink's assassin, Ogun Samast, to 22 years and 10 months in jail last
July. He was 17 when the killing took place.
In January, an Ä°stanbul court sentenced one man to life in prison
for involvement in Dink's murder but acquitted 17 other defendants,
sparking large protests and criticism from rights groups and angering
lawyers who said the trial failed to clarify whether there were
connections between the suspects and state officials.
A report commissioned by the Turkish president found negligence by
Turkish state officials in the killing of Dink.
Security officials failed to protect Dink despite warnings of a plot
to kill him, and the subsequent trial exposed widespread structural
problems in the legal system and the need for reforms, the report said.
The report also revealed that the flawed murder investigation
undermined public trust in the security services.
Today's Zaman
May 6 2012
Turkey
Interior Minister Ä°dris Naim Å~^ahin has said nine security officials
were given administrative punishments for negligence in failing to
prevent the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
Responding to parliamentary questions from Turgut Dibek, a deputy from
the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), about Dink's
murder, Å~^ahin said five officials were sentenced to forfeiture of
monthly salary, three were given motions of censure and one was given
a warning. He said no investigation was allowed for eight officials,
prosecution was decided against for 31 and two were acquitted by
a court.
Dink, the late editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot dead by an
ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in broad
daylight in Ä°stanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. A juvenile court sentenced
Dink's assassin, Ogun Samast, to 22 years and 10 months in jail last
July. He was 17 when the killing took place.
In January, an Ä°stanbul court sentenced one man to life in prison
for involvement in Dink's murder but acquitted 17 other defendants,
sparking large protests and criticism from rights groups and angering
lawyers who said the trial failed to clarify whether there were
connections between the suspects and state officials.
A report commissioned by the Turkish president found negligence by
Turkish state officials in the killing of Dink.
Security officials failed to protect Dink despite warnings of a plot
to kill him, and the subsequent trial exposed widespread structural
problems in the legal system and the need for reforms, the report said.
The report also revealed that the flawed murder investigation
undermined public trust in the security services.