DINK LAWYERS TO TAKE CASE AGAINST POLICE TO EUROPEAN COURT

Today’s Zaman
March 12 2008
Turkey

Lawyers for assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s
family have decided to bring a case against some of the police
involved in the Dink murder investigation to the European Court of
Human Rights. One of the lawyers, Fethiye Cetin, noted that they had
brought allegations of misconduct and obstructing justice to Turkish
prosecutors but to no avail.

The lawyers for Dink’s family had appealed to the Ýstanbul chief public
prosecutor regarding seven policemen, including former Trabzon police
intelligence chief Engin Dinc and former anti-terror team head Yahya
Ozturk, with the claim that these officers had obstructed justice. The
Istanbul chief public prosecutor sent the appeal to the Trabzon Public
Prosecutor’s Office, which decided on Jan. 10 that there was no need
to open a court case against the policemen. The lawyers appealed
the decision to the nearest high criminal court, in Rize, but last
week the court in Rize also decided not to open a case against the
policemen. "The suspects did not commit murder by negligence and were
not aware of the murder plans," the Rize court said.

Cetin told Today’s Zaman that with the decision of the Rize court, they
had exhausted all domestic legal remedies with regards to the police.

"We are waiting for a writ from the Rize court. Then we have six
months to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, and we will
do so as soon as possible," Cetin said.

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