Cases Against Dink Dropped

Şişli 2nd Court of First Instance dropped the cases against the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who had been murdered by a nationalist gunman on January 19. Three other writers and administrators of his newspaper still face trial.

Şişli 2nd Court of First Instance dropped three cases filed against Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist who had been murdered by a nationalist gunman on January 19 in front of the offices of his newspaper Agos in Istanbul.

One of the cases, where Dink was tried with the infamous article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code concerning his statements about the Armenian genocide claims during an interview with the Reuters news agency has been postponed to June 14.

Talking to bianet about the trials, lawyer Fethiye Çetin said the trial which involves writers and administrators of the Agos newspaper Aydın Engin, Sakis Seropyan and Arat Dink would continue as planned.

They are on trial on grounds of publishing the interview made with Hrant Dink.

All three will also face court on allegations of influencing the due judicial process via press. They face 4.5 years imprisonment if convicted.

Following his death, allegations on Hrant Dink have been separated from the case and dropped.(EÖ/EÜ)


Bia news center - İstanbul

26 March 2007, Monday


Erol ÖNDEROĞLU