ARREST ORDER ISSUED FOR TWO POLICEMEN IN DINK MURDER CASE
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Jan 12 2015
ISTANBUL
An Istanbul court has issued an arrest order for two policemen involved
in the inquiry into the killing of Hrant Dink, the Turkish Armenian
journalist, as the case deepens.
The court accepted on Jan. 12 the prosecutor’s demand to cancel the
release of Ozkan Mumcu and Muhittin Zenit, two police officers who
were on duty at the police department in the Black Sea province of
Trabzon when Dink was killed in Istanbul.
The two suspects testified to the court and were released immediately
on Dec. 26, 2014.
The prosecutor said both officers were guilty of negligence in the
crime that resulted in Dink’s death and misused their authority.
Dink was assassinated by Ogun Samast, who is serving a sentence of
22 years and 10 months in a high-security prison, on a busy street
outside the office of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos in
Istanbul’s Ã…~^iÃ…~_li district.
Yusuf Hayal and Erhan Tuncel are accused of convincing Samast in the
Black Sea province of Trabzon to shoot Dink.
Civil servants and institutions allegedly implicated in the murder
of Dink should be investigated, the Constitutional Court ruled on
July 17, 2014. The ruling became a milestone in the case that has
been lingering since the killing in 2007.
Since then, former Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah, former
Trabzon police chief ReÃ…~_at Altay, former Trabzon police intelligence
branch chief Faruk Sarı, former Istanbul deputy governor Ergun
Gungör and former Istanbul police intelligence chief Ahmet İlhan
Guler have testified as suspects in the case.
January/12/2015