HRANT DINK MURDER
Will State Intelligence Bring Light into Dink Murder Case?
Today's 11th hearing in the Hrant Dink muder case at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court will be followed by European Union - Turkey Joint Parliamentary Commission co-chair Hélene Flautre and European Parliament Greens Advisor Ali Yurttagül.
International Writers Association PEN board member Eugene Schoulgin and Lin Stensrud and Trine Kleven from PEN Norway will testify as witnesses. Representatives of the Paris Bar Association and the Brussels Bar Association lawyers Vincent Niore, Mathier Brochier and Alexandre Couyoumdjian, who already monitored the case during the previous 2 hearings, will be present as well.
Hitmen suspects Ogün Samast, Erhan Tunel, Yasin Hayal, Ersin Yolcu and Ahmet İskender are on trial for the assassination of Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian Agos newspaper on 19 January 2007.
Secret witness to testify after 2 years and 9 month
In the previous hearing on 6 July the court decided to conduct the necessary preparations to hear a secret witness in today's hearing. It was also decreed to bring the weapon Hrant was killed with to the court room today.
Besides, the court had strongly enforced their request for documents from the Istanbul Police Directorate, The Ankara Telecommunications Presidency, the Police General Directorate and the Trabzon Police Directorate.
Writs for today's hearing were issued to Mithat Alkan, Ergün Çağatay, Serkan İskender, Lerna Atan, Ayşe Pamiş, Şahabettin Şahin and Cemal Yıldırım.
In the hearing on 6 July judge Erkan Canak received harsh reactions on accounts of the Dink family lawyers' allegation of a lack of a fair trial and of the fact that the judge did not interfere against Samast's provocations and threats to the Dink family and joint attorneys. Upon the lawyers' request a criminal complaint was filed against Samast for threatening them.
The case is to be continued today (12 October).
Call for justice on Taksim Suqare
The Solidarity Platform for Justice gathered more than 1,000 people on Taksim Square on Saturday evening, 2 days prior to the 11th hearing. They walked down the busy Istiklal Avenue to Galatasaray Square, shouting slogans and holding torches.
The demonstrators called for justice for Hrant Dink, for Güler Zere who is kept in prison despite her being sick with last stage cancer, for Ceylan Önkol who was killed by a mortar last month, for Engin Çeber who was tortured and killed in custody, for the Saturday Mothers, for all children in prison under allegations of terrorism, for the victim of the Marmara flash flood and for Nedim Şener who is facing 28 years imprisonment for his book "The murder of Hrant Dink and the lies of the Intelligence".
The platform will also picket for justice on Beşiktaş Square during today's hearing. (EÖ/BÇ/VK)