Some of Dink murder evidence hidden or destroyed

PanARMENIAN.Net - Erdal Dogan, a lawyer representing the family of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, has said the murder has not been properly investigated, noting that some of the evidence has been hidden or destroyed.



"During the preparations for trial, the prosecutor's office demanded some information that has not been provided, and during the investigation process, the court's demands from security personnel and institutions have not been fulfilled. If such information is being withheld, the people behind this crime cannot be revealed, so we can't talk about a just trial process," Dogan said yesterday, following the third hearing on Monday in the trial of defendants accused of assassinating Dink.



Referring to the series of police lapses in the handling of the Dink case and official attempts to protect those who plotted the crime as reported by the press previously, Dogan said: "In the report related to how the defendants had been organized to commit the crime, head of police intelligence Ramazan Akyurek intervened in the case by calling Yasin Hayal and others planning the murder merely a group of friends who came together because he said Dink had insulted Turkishness. Plus he obstructed justice by ordering the destruction of a 49-page document related to one of the defendants, Erhan Tuncel. The trial cannot proceed in a healthy manner because documents containing information on more than 6,000 telephone calls made by some of the defendants have been destroyed by security officials in Trabzon [where several suspects who are being tried for instigating the crime are from]."



The questioning will continue on Feb. 25, with many in the country following the case closely, Zaman reports.



Hrant Dink was assassinated on January 19, 2007 by ultranationalist Ogun Samast.