Hrant Dink murder case

* Photo: Directorate General of Security

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The Directorate General of Security has announced that Ahmet İskender, a defendant of the Hrant Dink murder case, was caught in Kyrgyzstan and has been brought to Turkey around a month later.

In a written statement released on its website, the Directorate of Security has said, "Ahmet İskender, who was detected to have hidden the weapon used in the assassination of Hrant Dink, have lent money to the perpetrator for the murder and have had his phone used as a communication tool for the murder was caught in Kyrgyzstan, brought to Turkey and arrested".

According to the statement of the Security Directorate, "thanks to the efforts of the Intelligence Department of the Security Directorate, Counterterrorism Department and Interpol-Europol Department, the defendant had been detected in Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek in hiding".

Afterwards, "the Embassy of Turkey in Kyrgyzstan and the Interior Ministry's Consultancy Department were immediately contacted and the Interior Ministry of Kyrgyzstan was also requested to catch the person and extradite him to our country", the Directorate has noted.

"In coordination of the Directorate General of Security, Turkish Embassy in Kyrgyzstan and Interior Ministry's Consultancy Department, it was ensured that the person was caught by the teams of the Kyrgyzstan Security Teams on February 26, 2022," the statement has added.

He was given 12 years, 6 months

In the trial over the killing of journalist Hrant Dink on January 19, 2007, the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court handed down its ruling on January 17, 2012 and ruled that Ahmet İskender, who had been arrested along with other defendants on January 24, 2007, should be sentenced to 12 years, 6 month in prison on charge of "aiding a premeditated murder".

The 9th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation upheld the local court ruling on May 13, 2013 and İskender's conviction became final.

In order for the trial of 87 defendants heard by the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court not to remain in suspense, the files of nine defendants, including Ogün Samast, were separated to hold down a ruling.

The court board gave a ruling on the nine defendants on July 17, 2019 and ruled that seven defendants should be penalized. Of them, Ahmet İskender was sentenced to 1 year, 10 months, 15 days in prison on charge of "membership of an armed terrorist organization". While this prison sentence of Ahmet İskender also became final, he turned out to have fled abroad.

In the lawsuit filed into the killing of Hrant Dink, the specially authorized 14th Heavy Penal Court handed down its ruling on 19 defendants on January 17, 2012. Arrested defendant Yasin Hayal was sentenced to aggravated life sentence on charge of "incitement to premeditated murder", 3 months in prison for threatining writer Orhan Pamuk and 1 year in prison for "possession of unregistered arm." He was acquitted of "leading an armed terrorist organization."

While the court ruled that Erhan Tuncel, one of the arrested defendants, should be sentenced to 10 years, 6 months in prison and ruled for his release, it sentenced Ersin Yolcu to 12 years, 6 months, Ahmet İskender to 13 years, 4 months and Salih Hacısalihoğlu to 2 months, 15 days in prison. All defendants were acquitted of "membership in an armed terrorist organization."

The 9th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation reversed the verdict of the local court on "organization" charges and ruled that the defendants should be retried for being the members of "an organization established to commit crimes", not being the members of "an armed terrorist organization."

Upholding the conviction of Yasin Hayal on charges of "incitement to deliberate murder" and "threatening Orhan Pamuk", the Court of Cassation reversed the acquittal of Yasin Hayal on charges of "establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization", concluding that he should be convicted of "establishing and leading a criminal organization." While the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of Erhan Tuncel on charge of "producing explosive substance", it reversed his acquittal of "incitement to willful murder" on the grounds that he should be convicted for having aided the Hrant Dink murder.

Case file at the 14th Heavy Penal Court, again

Following the Court of Cassation verdict, the retrial began at the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court. After six hearings were held at this court, the file was sent to the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court as the heavy penal courts specially authorized as per the Article 10 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) were abolished.

Accepting the indictment against public officials, the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court sent the case file to the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court so that it would be merged with the main trial of eight defendants, including Ogün Samast, Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, the verdicts of whom had been reversed.

The board of the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court returned the case file to the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court on the grounds that "consent was not requested in the ruling for merging the case files, the court was not authorized to hear terror crimes, the trial was at a further stage in the main case and there was no common defendant between the ones put on trial in this case and the public officials to be put on trial in the new case."

The 5th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, who examined the files to resolve the dispute between the courts, merged the two files and ruled that the cases should be heard by the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court.

The İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court ruled that the new trial of 50 defendants including gendarmerie officials should be merged with the main trial of 35 defendants including Ogün Samast, Erhan Tuncel and former security directors Ramazan Akyürek, Ali Fuat Yılmazer and Coşgun Çakır.

New indictment

While the trial was ongoing, the prosecutor conducting the investigation lodged a new indictment and demanded aggravated life sentence on charge of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" for 51 defendants including Fetullah Gülen, former prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, Editor-in-Chief of the closed Zaman newspaper Ekrem Dumanlu, journalists Adem Yavuz Arslan, Ercan Gün and dismissed Brigadier General Hamza Celepoğlu, the then Trabzon Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Ali Öz, Trabzon Gendarmerie Intelligence Branch Director Metin Yıldız and İstanbul Gendarmerie Intelligence Officer Lieutenant Muharrem Demirkale. The indictment also demanded that 40 defendants including Öz and gendarmerie officers be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on charge of "participating in the murder."

Prison sentence for defendants in the main trial

At the hearing on June 13, 2019, the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court ruled that the case files of nine main defendants including Ogün Samast and Yasin Hayal should be separated from the others.

Handing down its judgement on July 17, 2019, the court ruled that Erhan Tuncel should be sentenced to 99 years, 6 months in total on charges of "attempted murder with premeditation and by using a bomb, damage to property, being a member of a criminal organization and aiding a wilful murder", Yasin Hayal to 7 years, 6 months in prison for "establishing and leadign an armed criminal organization" and Ogün Samast to 2 years, 6 months in prison on charge of "being a member of an armed criminal organization."

The court also sentenced Zeynel Abidin Yavuz to 14 years, 22 days, Tuncay Uzundal to 16 years, 10 months, 15 days and Ahmet İskender and Ersin Yolcu to 1 year, 10 months, 15 days in prison each on similar charges. Defendants Salih Hacısalihoğlu and Osman Hayal were acquitted by the court.

(RT/SD)