Fethiye Cetin, one of the lawyers for the Dink family, said that the Pelitli Gendarmerie in Trabzon received a phonecall on 20 January. Someone informed the gendarmerie that O.S., the suspected triggerman in the Hrant Dink murder case, went to Istanbul with his friends:

Gendarmerie not investigating "friends" 

"The important sentence is the 'he went to Istanbul with his friends' at the end of the phone conversation. The gendarmerie is not looking for these friends, although it is their duty to investigate this and send their findings to the prosecution."

Cetin conceded that the fact that this phone conversation was only put into a report nine days later may be due to bureaucratic obstacles; "however, what is really relevant is that the gendarmerie has not done anything about it."

According to the news on NTV channel, a person denounced O.S. in a phonecall to the Pelitli gendarmerie in Trabzon on 20 January, one day after the murder of Hrant Dink. The anonymous caller gave O.S.'s father's name and work place. The date on the report of this call is nine days later.

Dialogue recorded nine days later

The dialogue is reported in the case file of gendarmerie officers Okan Simsek and Veysel Sahin, who are both on trial for gross misconduct:

Informer (I): You know the guy who shot the journalist?

Gendarmerie Officer (GO): Which guy?

I: He was shot in Istanbul, you know

GO: Oh, yes

I: The guy who shot the journalist, O.S., he lives in Yeni Afetler

GO: O.S.?

I: Look, they are coming, no one must hear me...His father Ahmet Samast works for the municipality at the airport

GO: Give me the address of where he lives

I: I was going to call Istanbul, my telephone does not work outside...I was going to tell them, but I could not...Tell Istanbul. He ran away from here and went to Istanbul with his friends. It was done there.

GO: Alright sir, thank you. (NZ/TK/AG)