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FAMILY TO PROTEST HEARINGS AS NEW DINK TRIAL BEGINS
www.worldbulletin.net, Turkey
Sept 17 2013
A written statement sent to press by the Dink family said the family
will no longer attend the hearings to avoid being part of the "games
played by the state mechanisms."
The İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court on Tuesday began a review of
the trial of the 2007 killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink after a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned
the İstanbul court's first ruling on the murder, while the Dink
family protested the judiciary system and said it would not attend
the hearings.
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.
The Dink family said during the past six years, the Turkish judiciary,
state security, "civil and armed bureaucracy," political institutions
have all "played around with us," and added that "this coalition"
is the criminal organization which has planned and then covered up
the murder.
The statement added that when the investigation first started, the
Dink family had requested that the prosecutors interrogate a number of
people but none of them were questioned and they were later sentenced
in the trial of Ergenekon -- a clandestine and terrorist gang guilty
of attempting to overthrow the government.
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. Erhan Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon
Police Department, was found not guilty of the murder and acquitted.
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.
As the verdict of the lower court was met with outrage by civil
society groups, politicians and others, tens of thousands of people
marched in protest in İstanbul.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=118191
www.worldbulletin.net, Turkey
Sept 17 2013
A written statement sent to press by the Dink family said the family
will no longer attend the hearings to avoid being part of the "games
played by the state mechanisms."
The İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court on Tuesday began a review of
the trial of the 2007 killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink after a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned
the İstanbul court's first ruling on the murder, while the Dink
family protested the judiciary system and said it would not attend
the hearings.
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.
The Dink family said during the past six years, the Turkish judiciary,
state security, "civil and armed bureaucracy," political institutions
have all "played around with us," and added that "this coalition"
is the criminal organization which has planned and then covered up
the murder.
The statement added that when the investigation first started, the
Dink family had requested that the prosecutors interrogate a number of
people but none of them were questioned and they were later sentenced
in the trial of Ergenekon -- a clandestine and terrorist gang guilty
of attempting to overthrow the government.
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. Erhan Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon
Police Department, was found not guilty of the murder and acquitted.
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.
As the verdict of the lower court was met with outrage by civil
society groups, politicians and others, tens of thousands of people
marched in protest in İstanbul.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=118191