Dink family lawyers to appeal to ECHR after exhausting domestic measures

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Dink family lawyers say they will take the case to the ECHR after exhausting all domestic legal avenues one more time, while Dink’s brother Orhan Dink says ‘this was the scenario’s last scene,’ Hürriyet Daily News reported.

The Interior Ministry has revealed that the police officers investigated in the framework of the Dink case did not receive any judicial punishment apart from the forfeiture of pay and a reprimand.

Cem Halavut, one of the intervening lawyers of the case said administrative punishments like forfeiture of pay and condemning an officer were not what they demanded as they had asked for the officers to be taken to court and tried.

“Prosecutors say they could not reach the evidences, administrations of institutions say they did their share and that the ball is in the prosecutors’ court. This shows that they pass the ball around well,” Halavut told the HDN in a phone interview.

Any new investigation kicked off at this point will find it nearly impossible to reach the evidence as six years have passed since the murder, Halavut said.

He also said there were numerous documents and evidences revealing the responsibility of public personnel in the murder.

The Interior Ministry announced the judicial and administrative proceedings for the law enforcement officers who were found responsible for Dink assassination. According to the announcement, no judicial investigation authority was given to eight police officers, “no need for an additional prosecution” was decided for 31 officers, and two officers were acquitted.

Orhan Dink, the brother of Hrant Dink, said his family was despairing of justice.

“There is nothing to be surprised about this. We had demanded an effective official investigation but it failed. The large part of the State Supervisory Council’s (DDK) murder report argued that the judicial process was problematic and that police officers were not investigated since their chiefs’ permission was not taken,” he told the Daily News.

Dink said the authorities do not want to extend the case over a long period of time to ensure the public forgets what happened.

Halavut also said they have been waiting for the Supreme Court of Appeals’ verdict which will be the end of the domestic judicial process. If necessary they will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).