Dink lawyer found dead in Istanbul apartment

PanARMENIAN.Net - One of the co-plaintiff lawyers in the trial of the suspects of slain editor of Agos Armenian-Turkish newspaper Hrant Dink has been found in his Istanbul apartment in what appeared to be suicide. However, no official report on the cause of his death has yet been released, Today’s Zaman reported.

Hakan Karadag’s body was taken from his house in Cihangir to the Forensic Council of Medicine for an autopsy. Hitman Ogun Samast had threatened Karadag in the courtroom during one of the hearings.

According to initial witnesses, a friend of Karadag broke into his house when he got worried after not hearing him from him a few days in a row. He found Karadag’s body hanging from the ceiling. Police studied the scene and the body was taken to the Forensic Council morgue.

Meanwhile, his relatives rushed to the Forensic Council of Medicine building in the afternoon. The grieving relatives said they could not believe he killed himself. His uncle Habip Karadag told reporters, “I just saw him yesterday, he did not have any suicidal issues. He said he had a case that he had to attend and left saying ‘hope to see you in the afternoon.’”

Karadag was a co-plaintiff lawyer in the Dink assassination trial. Ogun Samast, the teenager who killed the Hrant Dink in January 2007, had said to Karadag in the courtroom, “You’d better visit the prison open day,” with a threatening hand gesture. Karadag filed an official complaint with the judge. Samast objected saying he had no intention to threaten him, saying he only told Karadag not to insult him.