The 12th hearing for the case of Hrant Dink held in Istanbul

PanARMENIAN.Net -
The 12th hearing for the case of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was fatally shot by an ultranationalist teenager outside the Agos weekly in 2007 was held in Istanbul.



The hearing took place with the participation of five of the defendants under arrest, Ogün Samast, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Ahmet İskender and Ersin Yolcu. Among a total of 20 defendants, Osman Hayal and Mustafa Öztürk, who were released pending trial, were also in court.



The court’s chief justice, Erkan Canak, said the telephone numbers and records of the relevant police officers had been requested from the Trabzon Police Department but the request had been refused as the release of such documents would lead to “lapses in security.”



Canak also said that intelligence reports written prior to Dink’s murder had been requested and had arrived at the court. The Dink family lawyer, Bahri Belen, said all documents coming from the police department talked about the “confidentiality of documents” but pointed out that documents regarding crimes should not be secret.



The hearing will continue with the defense of Tuncel, one of the key suspects, who reportedly had worked with the police and the gendarmerie as an informant and gave them tip-offs about the plot to kill Dink several months before the assassination. Tuncel, who belongs to the Grand Unity Party (BBP), argued against the fact that he had been labeled as a leader in a terrorist organization. He said this was only because of his “political views.”



Tuncel asked BBP leaders Yaşar Cihan and Halis Egemen, who were at the court, whether or not the party approved of Dink’s murder. Egemen said they would never support an act of murder and they “love the created because of the creator. This view does not discriminate between Muslims or non-Muslims.”

At the last hearing of the Dink trial last October, co-plaintiff lawyer Fethiye Çetin stated that Dink’s murder, along with that of an Italian priest in 2006 and the 2007 slaying of three Christians in Malatya, was part of an operation carried out by Ergenekon, a neo-nationalist gang believed to be the extension of a clandestine network of groups with members in the armed forces.