Dink murder trial resumed in Istanbul

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish police covered up the killing of the editor-in-chief of Agos bilingual newspaper, Hrant Dink, by withholding and destroying evidence, a lawyer for his family claimed as the second hearing in the murder trial began in Istanbul Monday.



"Evidence and information is being hidden from prosecutors... A lot of evidence was destroyed and lost," Fethiye Cetin said in an interview with the Radikal newspaper. Several suspects in the January 19 murder indicated in their testimonies that "they believed they were acting on behalf of the state," she said, AFP reports.



The charge sheet says police received intelligence as early as 2006 of a plot to kill Dink organized in the northern city of Trabzon, home of self-confessed gunman Ogun Samast, 17, and most of his 18 alleged accomplices. Cetin said tape from a security camera outside a bank near Agos disappeared after being taken by police who, she said, also tapped telephone conversations between two key suspects before the murder.



When prosecutors learned this, she said, they were given incomplete records. "Something is being covered up - maybe certain relationships" between the suspects and members of the security forces, she said, adding: "The gunman and his close entourage have been uncovered, but not the real perpetrators." Cetin said the government acted swiftly after the murder but its resolve weakened as the investigation progressed.



"It is not too late," she said. "If the government shows determination, light can be shed on the murder."



Trial of two policemen, who posed with Ogun Samast against a Turkish flag, opened in Samsun last week. The lawyers of Dink's family claim the policemen patronized the murderer.



During the July 2 hearing, 4 out of 19 suspects in Dink's murder were released.