Turkish journalist may be sentenced to 17 years in prison

PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkish journalist may be sentenced to 17 years in prison for writing
book about Hrant Dink
02.05.2009 14:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nedim Shener, journalist of Turkish Milliyet
periodical, may be sentenced to 17 years in prison for writing a book
entitled `Dink’s Murder and the Falsehood of Secret Services’.

The book describes how Turkish security forces failed to prevent
Dink’s murder. Several lawsuits have been filed against Shener. The
first hearing is due on June 26. The lawsuits have been filed by
police officers Mukhitin Zenit, Head of Police Investigative
Department Ramazan Akurek and Head of Istanbul Police Investigative
Bureau Ali Fuat Yulmazar.

`I am alone with murderers in Istanbul Criminal Court. The officers
who filed a case against me failed to conduct a proper investigation
into the reports containing information about plans for assassinating
Dink. They targeted me because I wrote the truth,’ the journalist
said.

According to Mr. Shener, the investigators forged documents for
concealing false information. `The false document issued by the Prime
Minister’s Investigative Committee revealed that falsehood. In
particular, it says that Ataturk and Ilmazar failed to perform their
duties. The report was undersigned by the Prime Minister. And I wrote
about that. This is the only crime I committed.’

Hrant Dink, Editor-in-Chief of Agos Armenian periodical, was killed
near his office by nationalist Ogun Samast on January 19,
2007. However, Turkish media recently reported the name of a different
killer.