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TOP TURKEY COURT RULES DINK MURDER PROBE WAS FLAWED
The Daily Star, Lebanon
July 18 2014
ANKARA: Turkey's top court Thursday ruled that the investigation
into the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist had been flawed,
paving the way for potential further trials against new suspects.
The constitutional court unanimously decided that the authorities had
failed to carry out an effective investigation into the 2007 killing
of journalist Hrant Dink.
Dink was shot dead in broad daylight by a teenage ultranationalist
outside the offices of his bilingual Agos newspaper.
Ogun Samast, a 17-year-old high school dropout at the time, confessed
to the murder and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail in 2011.
However, supporters of Dink's family believe that those behind
the murder were protected by the state and have asked for a deeper
investigation to uncover officials who were allegedly involved.
In 2012, an Istanbul court sentenced Yasin Hayal to life in prison
for planning the killing but the family is concerned that those who
ordered the killing have never been brought to justice.
It was Dink's family who made the formal complaint that prompted the
ruling by the constitutional court.
Bahri Belen, lawyer for the Dink family, said that the decision was in
line with a previous verdict issued by the Strasbourg-based European
Court of Human Rights which found Turkey guilty of failure to prevent
the journalist's murder and carry out an effective probe.
Belen said the latest verdict paved the way for the trial of state
officials who could be implicated in the murder and had so far been
protected by a cover-up. "I hope there will be positive developments
and the court decision will be implemented."
Dink, 52, had campaigned for reconciliation between Turks and
Armenians, but incurred the wrath of Turkish nationalists for calling
the mass killings of Armenians during World War I a genocide.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Jul-18/264282-top-turkey-court-rules-dink-murder-probe-was-flawed.ashx#axzz37mdTbHQm
The Daily Star, Lebanon
July 18 2014
ANKARA: Turkey's top court Thursday ruled that the investigation
into the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist had been flawed,
paving the way for potential further trials against new suspects.
The constitutional court unanimously decided that the authorities had
failed to carry out an effective investigation into the 2007 killing
of journalist Hrant Dink.
Dink was shot dead in broad daylight by a teenage ultranationalist
outside the offices of his bilingual Agos newspaper.
Ogun Samast, a 17-year-old high school dropout at the time, confessed
to the murder and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail in 2011.
However, supporters of Dink's family believe that those behind
the murder were protected by the state and have asked for a deeper
investigation to uncover officials who were allegedly involved.
In 2012, an Istanbul court sentenced Yasin Hayal to life in prison
for planning the killing but the family is concerned that those who
ordered the killing have never been brought to justice.
It was Dink's family who made the formal complaint that prompted the
ruling by the constitutional court.
Bahri Belen, lawyer for the Dink family, said that the decision was in
line with a previous verdict issued by the Strasbourg-based European
Court of Human Rights which found Turkey guilty of failure to prevent
the journalist's murder and carry out an effective probe.
Belen said the latest verdict paved the way for the trial of state
officials who could be implicated in the murder and had so far been
protected by a cover-up. "I hope there will be positive developments
and the court decision will be implemented."
Dink, 52, had campaigned for reconciliation between Turks and
Armenians, but incurred the wrath of Turkish nationalists for calling
the mass killings of Armenians during World War I a genocide.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Jul-18/264282-top-turkey-court-rules-dink-murder-probe-was-flawed.ashx#axzz37mdTbHQm