Although Osman Hayal, Yasin Hayal’s brother, denied being in Istanbul at the time of the murder of Hrant Dink before, he was arrested following the contrary statements of the secret witness of the case.

The secret witness described the second person next to Ogün Samast, the murder suspect in Dink’s trial, on January 19, 2007, the day Hrant Dink was shot, as Osman Hayal and a lawsuit was filed against him immediately for the charges of “participating in a murder” and “being a member in a terrorist organization.”

In this case, Osman Hayal will be tried as the twentieth suspect of the trial at the 14^th High Criminal Court of Beşiktaş, Istanbul. The next hearing will be on January 26.

Witness Osman Hayal did not remember

Osman Hayal had said at the hearing held on October 13 that he had agreed to giving his statement in order to defend his brother.

One of the questions that gave Osman Hayal hard time was whether he was in Istanbul or Trabzon at the time of the murder. Osman Hayal’s reply was “The signal from my telephone shows that I was in Istanbul, so I was here.”

Once it was established that he had been in Istanbul between the dates of January 13 and 19, another question to Osman Hayal was whether he had gone back to Trabzon by plane or bus.” His answer was he could not remember.

A while ago,  the Show TV had broadcasted scenes showing two people watching Ogün Samast while he was waiting for Hrant Dink and later disappearing in a construction site after having watched Ogün Samast ran away from the murder scene.

Osman Hayal is facing between 22,5 and 35 years. (EÖ/EÜ/TB)