JOURNALIST MURDER

The Istanbul Public Chief Prosecution dismissed the request made by the joint attorneys of the Dink family to allocate one prosecutor to the investigation of the murder of the former chief editor of the Armenian Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink. Dink was killed on 19 January 2007 in front of his office in Istanbul.

Lawyer Fethiye Çetin submitted a petition to the Chief Prosecution on 28 April. The joint attorneys of the Dink family had requested to expand the investigation and to appoint a new prosecutor or one prosecutor from the group of prosecutors concerned with the file to carry out the investigation.

No special contingent for Dink investigation

The lawyers emphasized in the petition that the plan of the murder consisted of stages like "preparation", "creating public awareness", "action" and, after the killing, the phase of "manipulation" and "destroying and covering up evidence".

The petition reads, "It is the unquestionable truth that the killing of Hrant Dink was an operation organized and realized in different stages by a professional organization". Thereupon, the officials on duty prior to the murder did not take precautions. These hints should be evaluated, the petition continued.

Who are the responsible officials?

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has merged the five applications made in the context of the Hrant Dink murder into one case. Many aspects of the case have not been revealed yet. It is not even clear which public officials can be held responsible for the murder.

The 2^nd Magistrate Criminal Court of Trabzon (eastern Black Sea coast) previously rejected the demand of the Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court to merge the Trabzon file with the file in Istanbul. Eight gendarmerie officers are tried before the court in Trabzon under charges of "basic negligence" related to the Dink murder.

Still not clear how many people shot

A secret witness was heard in the 13^th hearing of the murder case on 10 May. The witness stated that prime suspect Ogün Samast was not on his own when he shot journalist Dink on 19 January 2007 in front of his office in Şişli (European side of Istanbul). The witness claimed that Yasin Hayal and Osman Hayal were present at the scene of crime. The trial will be continued on 12 July. (EÖ/VK)