"ASSASSINATION OF HRANT DINK TRIAL BEGINS"
Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
July 2 2007
ISTANBUL (A.A) -02.07.2007 -A high court in Istanbul started hearing
18 suspects accused of participation in the assassination of Hrant
Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, on Monday. Twelfe of
them are in prison.
52-year-old Dink, editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos,
was shot dead in front of his office in Istanbul on January 19th, 2007.
The hearing will be held behind closed doors since O.S., accused to
be the hitman, is below 18.
Fethiye Cetin, one of lawyers of Dink family, said that Turkish
Parliamentary Human Rights Commission Chairman Mehmet Elkatmis and
parliamentarian Cavit Torun also participating in the hearing.
-INDICTMENT-
The prosecutor asks for life imprisonment for Erhan Tuncel and Yasin
Hayal on charges of inciting to murder, while he demands that O.S.
should be sentenced to prison terms between 18 to 24 years.
Prison terms ranging between 7.5 and 35 years are requested for
Mustafa Ozturk, Tuncay Uzundal, Zeynel Abidin Yavuz, Ahmet Iskender,
Ersin Yolcu, Salih Hacisalihoglu, Alper Esirgemez, Irfan Ozkan, Osman
Alpay, Erbil Susaman, Numan Sisman, Senol Akduman and Veysel Toprak.