COURT ISSUES ARREST WARRANT FOR TUNCEL IN NEW DINK TRIAL
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Sept 17 2013
17 September 2013 /TODAYSZAMAN.COM, İSTANBUL
An İstanbul court issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for Erhan
Tuncel, who was acquitted of all charges related to the 2007 killing
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
The İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court on Tuesday began a review of the
trial of the 2007 killing of Dink after a decision by the Supreme Court
of Appeals overturned the İstanbul court's first ruling on the murder.
Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon Police Department,
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the 2004 bombing
of a McDonald's in Trabzon but was acquitted of all charges regarding
the Dink murder, including the prosecutors' claim that he was the one
who gave orders to Yasin Hayal, the man who was given a life sentence
for soliciting Dink's shooter.
A written statement sent to press by the Dink family on Tuesday said
the family will no longer attend the hearings to avoid being part of
the "games played by the state mechanisms."
Dink, the late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos,
was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007, by ultranationalist teenager Ogun
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 gave another suspect
in the case, Yasin 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
that 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.
Dink's lawyers had submitted a petition to the Supreme Court of
Appeals, arguing that the lower court's ruling violated the Turkish
Penal Code (TCK) by acknowledging the existence of a criminal
organization but declining to investigate it, and that the court
ignored evidence of a terrorist organization.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-326606-court-issues-arrest-warrant-for-tuncel-in-new-dink-trial.html
From: Baghdasarian
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Sept 17 2013
17 September 2013 /TODAYSZAMAN.COM, İSTANBUL
An İstanbul court issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for Erhan
Tuncel, who was acquitted of all charges related to the 2007 killing
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
The İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court on Tuesday began a review of the
trial of the 2007 killing of Dink after a decision by the Supreme Court
of Appeals overturned the İstanbul court's first ruling on the murder.
Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon Police Department,
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the 2004 bombing
of a McDonald's in Trabzon but was acquitted of all charges regarding
the Dink murder, including the prosecutors' claim that he was the one
who gave orders to Yasin Hayal, the man who was given a life sentence
for soliciting Dink's shooter.
A written statement sent to press by the Dink family on Tuesday said
the family will no longer attend the hearings to avoid being part of
the "games played by the state mechanisms."
Dink, the late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos,
was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007, by ultranationalist teenager Ogun
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 gave another suspect
in the case, Yasin 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
that 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.
Dink's lawyers had submitted a petition to the Supreme Court of
Appeals, arguing that the lower court's ruling violated the Turkish
Penal Code (TCK) by acknowledging the existence of a criminal
organization but declining to investigate it, and that the court
ignored evidence of a terrorist organization.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-326606-court-issues-arrest-warrant-for-tuncel-in-new-dink-trial.html
From: Baghdasarian