EUROPEAN COURT STARTS DINK CASE REVIEW
Today’s Zaman
June 17 2009
Turkey
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has begun to review the
case of assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was
tried and convicted under Article 301 restricting freedom of speech.
Dink’s lawyers applied to the ECtHR on Jan. 11, 2007, days before his
murder, arguing that Dink was being tried for "insulting Turkishness"
and that the reason for his trial was in contravention of the European
Convention on Human Rights’ principles of freedom of speech, fair
trial and legality of given punishment. They also argued that Dink
was treated differently because he was Armenian.
Dink was shot dead outside the offices of the Agos newspaper in
Ä°stanbul in 2007. One of the family’s lawyers, Fethiye Cetin, had
said that Dink’s murder was committed following a long period of
preparation, stretching as far back as 2004.
The lawyers for Dink’s family had applied to the ECtHR in 2008 and
again in 2009, arguing the Turkish state did not take precautions
to prevent Dink’s murder. They had first appealed to the Ä°stanbul
Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding seven policemen, including
former Trabzon police intelligence chief Engin Dinc and former
counterterrorism team head Yahya Ozturk, claiming 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 against opening 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.
The ECtHR asked the Turkish government to provide detailed
information on the Dink case to address the issue of the alleged
discriminatory acts. The court will also evaluate the concept of
"insulting Turkishness."