HRANT DINK TRIAL

The 20^th hearing of the Hrant Dink murder case was held before the Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court on Monday (19 September). 19 defendants, two of whom are detained, are being tried in the context of the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was gunned down in the middle of the street in Istanbul on 19 January 2007.

The beginning of the hearing was postponed from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm because Istanbul Public Prosecutor Hikmet Usta had not been able to finish the final speech of the prosecution on time.

About a hundred people observed the hearing from the visitors' places in the court room, among them Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul Deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder, writer Adalet Ağaoğlu and journalists Oral Çalışlar and Ufuk Uras.

Key suspect Erhan Tuncel was the only defendant present at the Monday hearing. The other detained defendant, alleged instigator Yasin Hayal, did not attend the hearing because he is currently under a three-week surveillance by the Forensic Medicine Institute in order to check his mental health.

"No final plea before complete evidence has not been collected"

Right in the beginning of the session Prosecutor Hikmet Usta announced that he was going to present the final speech of the prosecution.

Thereupon, joint attorney of the Dink family Fethiye Çetin criticized, "The requested evidence has not been collected yet. The witnesses we wanted to hear have not given their statements yet. There is still no reply from the Telecommunication Communication Directory. The photographs of Osman Hayal were sent but no expert was able to review them because the camera footage has still not been provided yet. Data that is going to change the course of procedure of this trial has not been collected yet. Thus, we do not think it is correct to have the prosecutor's final opinion presented now".

Prosecutor Usta on the other hand claimed that most of the evidence had been collected but that it did not yield a result. He said the final plea was necessary to advance the process at the 20^th hearing of a case that has been pending for five years.

The Dink family lawyers did not agree with the prosecutor's point of view. "It is impossible for us to remain in this court room under such circumstances. We will leave you on your own with your injustice" they declared and left the court room under protest. Together with the plaintiff lawyers also the trial observers and press members left. Only defendant Tuncel, the defence lawyers and the court board remained in the court room.

Attending the coming hearing

Lawyer Çetin said in a statement made outside the court room, "We were not able to document any progress within five years despite all our efforts. I am sorry to concede this. We requested some important evidence several times but most of it was not provided. And today the prosecutor is about to present his final plea. In other words, the facts behind this murder are not being investigated. We have very big losses right now. We will get into a situation where even the features of a terrorist organization will be discussed. For these reasons we preferred to leave the hearing instead of listening to the final plea [of the prosecution]. But this is not our final say. We will attend the coming hearing and present our final say".

Orhan Dink, brother of the slain journalist, claimed, "This is a trial that finishes without even answering one single question among a thousand questions. We gave up a thousand questions and want the answer to one single question only: Who is protecting the real murderers?"

Prosecutor Usta started to present his 86-page final plea in the almost empty court room. The prosecution demands life sentences for detained defendant Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel and the acquittal of un-detained defendants Osman Hayal, brother of prime suspect Yasin Hayal, and Çoşkun İğci. (IC/VK)