Samast confesses scouting venue before killing Dink

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ogün Samast, the confessed triggerman in the assassination of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, claimed during court testimony that he scouted the surroundings of the crime venue some hours before committing the crime.

Samast said he could not deny the fact that he had scouted the area of the crime scene after being asked by Judge İsmet Gülbiçim.

“Do I have to lie? I say whatever I have seen and remembered. I went there two or three hours before [committing] the crime, that is why I remembered,” Samast said.

Samast, who blamed the media for the assassination, confessed to shooting Dink in the back of the head outside the Istanbul offices of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, of which Dink was the editor-in-chief.

On the day of the crime, Samast had first been told Dink was not available as he was attending a meeting. Samast then went to an Internet cafe, where he exchanged messages relaying the information. Shortly after Dink exited the meeting, Samast headed to the newspaper’s offices.

Gülbiçim asked him whether it was a coincidence that the Internet Cafe’s owner, Cavit Kılıç, headed to the paper’s offices at the same time to submit an advertisement.

“It was a coincidence. You could also look at the security camera recordings. The State Security Court, or DMG, could not find anything related after four years, do you think the juvenile court will find anything?” Samast said, Hurriyet Daily News reported.