DINK FAMILY LAWYERS: POLICE ATTEMPTS TO PROTECT THOSE DINK MURDER PLOTTERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.07.2008 16:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An Istanbul court on Tuesday ruled against a demand
to start an investigation into Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah
and seven other police officers, including former Police Department
Intelligence Bureau Chief Ahmet Ilhan Guler, who were accused of
having disregarded intelligence information regarding a plot to kill
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was shot dead outside
his office in January of last year, Today’s Zaman reports.

Earlier, lawyers representing the Dink family appealed against
Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler’s refusal to grant his legally required
permission to start an investigation into the role of Chief of Police
Cerrah, who the prosecution says disregarded important intelligence
information that could possibly have saved Dink’s life.

Permission granted by the Istanbul governor to investigate whether
the seven other officers are responsible in any way was annulled by
the court yesterday after Ahmet Ilhan Guler filed a case contesting
the governor’s decision.

Sadettin Yaman, one of the judges on the panel, objected to the
majority ruling.

Since the trial of suspects in the Dink murder started last year,
lawyers representing the Dink family have questioned the fairness
of the trial many times. One of the suspects in the case is a former
police informant.

Dink’s lawyers also claimed that information needed for the prosecution
and demanded by the court was denied by the police, which they say
has been withholding critical information on some of the suspects and
their relationship to some police officers. There have also been a
series of police lapses in the handling of the Dink case, which many
say are attempts to protect those who plotted the crime.

The governor of a northwestern province of Turkey permitted Sunday an
investigation to be opened into a colonel and a captain for failing
to act on information received prior to the assassination of Hrant
Dink and hiding the intelligence.

Nuri Okutan, the governor of Trabzon, said the governor’s office
decided to give the permission for the investigation after assessing
a report of the inspectors from the Turkish Interior Ministry.

Dink was gunned down in broad daylight on Jan. 19 in front of the
headquarters of bilingual Armenian weekly Agos, of which he was the
editor-in-chief. Following Dink’s murder, many reports suggested that
the police were tipped off about the planned assassination more than
once prior to his execution, yet failed to prevent it.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress