An Istanbul court has ordered the release of two suspects in the reopened murder case of Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Armenian weekly Agos.

The 87th hearing of the case, in which public officers are being tried on the allegation of negligence, was held on Friday, Bianet reported.

85 defendants are being tried, six of them are arrested. Apart from Ali Fuat Yılmazer, the then Police Intelligence Bureau Director, all arrested defendants have requested release.

The 14th Heavy Penal Court ruled to release defendants Hamza Celepoglu, Intelligence Assessment and Analysis Center Adjutant of the Gendarmerie General Command, and Yavuz Karakaya, a non-commissioned officer at the Istanbul Gendarmerie Intelligence Bureau Directorate.

As a justification for the verdicts of release pronounced by the court have been cited the period, when the defendants were arrested, and the fact that they were not arrested on another charge.

The requests for release raised by the other arrested defendants Ramazan Akyurek, Muharrem Demirkale and Ercan Gun have been dismissed on the grounds that witness statements have not yet been completed and the gravity of the offenses, for which they were arrested.

Presiding Judge Emre Efe Simsek has ruled that Intelligence Bureau Director Vice Chair Vedat Yavuz, Department of Personnel Deputy Manager Aydın Patan, Ozcan Ozkan and Necmettin Emre shall be listened to as witnesses in the next hearing scheduled for March 2019.

Hrant Dink was shot dead at the age of 52 in broad daylight outside his office in central Istanbul on January 19, 2007.