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DINK MURDER SUSPECT MISSING FOR 15 DAYS
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Oct 2 2013
2 October 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
One of the suspects in the Hrant Dink murder trial is nowhere to be
found, although a court order was issued for his capture 15 days ago.
Erhan Tuncel, one of the main suspects in the 2007 murder of Dink,
a journalist, was initially acquitted by a lower court. The first
court trial also revealed suspicious links between Tuncel and police
and gendarmerie intelligence units. It appears that Tuncel worked as
an informant for a local police department.
When Dink was assassinated in January 2007, Yasin Hayal and Tuncel
were among the 19 suspects accused of plotting the murder. At the
end of the trial, the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court acquitted
Tuncel of the charges against him related to the assassination, but
sentenced Hayal, who the court found had conspired to assassinate
the journalist, to life.
The İstanbul 2nd Juvenile High Criminal Court sentenced Ogun Samast,
the hitman, to 23 years in prison. However, the court also ruled
that Samast and Hayal had acted on their own, and that there was no
criminal or terrorist organization behind them, a finding that was
overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals in a review of the lower
court's ruling in May of this year.
The İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court started to rehear the trial
on Sept. 17, and this time the prosecution demanded Tuncel's arrest
and the court complied, issuing an arrest warrant. However, Tuncel
is nowhere to be found. Police have been looking for him for the past
15 days.
Erdogan Soruklu, a lawyer representing Tuncel, had earlier said that
his client would surrender.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos,
was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007, by ultranationalist teenager Samast
outside the newspaper's offices in İstanbul in broad daylight.
Samast, tried in a juvenile court because he was a minor at the time
of the crime, was sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison. On Jan. 17,
2012, the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court handed Hayal a life
sentence for inciting Samast to commit murder.
The prosecutor of the first trial said that the murder was planned
and carried out by the Ergenekon terrorist organization, but the
court denied the existence of organized criminal activity in the
murder. The prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals later said
there was a terrorist organization involved and that the state should
investigate it.
The 9th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals in May ruled that there
was an organization involved, but said that it was a simple crime ring,
effectively denying that Ergenekon played any role in the murder.
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Oct 2 2013
2 October 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
One of the suspects in the Hrant Dink murder trial is nowhere to be
found, although a court order was issued for his capture 15 days ago.
Erhan Tuncel, one of the main suspects in the 2007 murder of Dink,
a journalist, was initially acquitted by a lower court. The first
court trial also revealed suspicious links between Tuncel and police
and gendarmerie intelligence units. It appears that Tuncel worked as
an informant for a local police department.
When Dink was assassinated in January 2007, Yasin Hayal and Tuncel
were among the 19 suspects accused of plotting the murder. At the
end of the trial, the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court acquitted
Tuncel of the charges against him related to the assassination, but
sentenced Hayal, who the court found had conspired to assassinate
the journalist, to life.
The İstanbul 2nd Juvenile High Criminal Court sentenced Ogun Samast,
the hitman, to 23 years in prison. However, the court also ruled
that Samast and Hayal had acted on their own, and that there was no
criminal or terrorist organization behind them, a finding that was
overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals in a review of the lower
court's ruling in May of this year.
The İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court started to rehear the trial
on Sept. 17, and this time the prosecution demanded Tuncel's arrest
and the court complied, issuing an arrest warrant. However, Tuncel
is nowhere to be found. Police have been looking for him for the past
15 days.
Erdogan Soruklu, a lawyer representing Tuncel, had earlier said that
his client would surrender.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos,
was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007, by ultranationalist teenager Samast
outside the newspaper's offices in İstanbul in broad daylight.
Samast, tried in a juvenile court because he was a minor at the time
of the crime, was sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison. On Jan. 17,
2012, the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court handed Hayal a life
sentence for inciting Samast to commit murder.
The prosecutor of the first trial said that the murder was planned
and carried out by the Ergenekon terrorist organization, but the
court denied the existence of organized criminal activity in the
murder. The prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals later said
there was a terrorist organization involved and that the state should
investigate it.
The 9th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals in May ruled that there
was an organization involved, but said that it was a simple crime ring,
effectively denying that Ergenekon played any role in the murder.