CALL FOR MERGER OF TWO DINK CASES
Today’s Zaman
April 17 2008
Turkey
The Hrant Dink Duyarlýlýk Grubu (awareness group), composed of several
deputies, journalists and artists, has asked that the assassination
case of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink be retried and
that cases in Trabzon and Ýstanbul related to the trial be merged.
The trial of gendarme officials suspected of having prior knowledge
of the journalist’s assassination continues in a Trabzon court while
another case is in progress at the Ýstanbul 14th High Criminal Court,
where the masterminds of the Dink murder are being tried. The awareness
group held a press conference at Parliament yesterday and released
a written statement read by Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
Istanbul deputy Mehmet Domac.
The statement, which included the group’s request to merge the cases
from the Istanbul and Trabzon courts, read: "Significant information
has surfaced subsequent to the testimonies of two gendarme officials
tried in the second hearing in a Trabzon court on March 20. Officials
that were charged for misconduct stated that they had informed their
superiors of their knowledge [of the threat against Dink] five months
prior to Dink’s assassination — but that no measures were taken.
They have also confessed that they had faced pressure to hide the
plot and prepare fake documents after the assassination. On the other
hand, we also know that Trabzon and Istanbul police departments’
intelligence services were tipped off about the plot before it
happened. It is obvious that Dink was killed despite the fact that
two gendarme officials had the knowledge of the plot."
"These two gendarme officials were actually questioned along with
other officials by civil administration inspectors. According to a
report presented by the inspectors, only these two officials were
allowed to be interrogated and further objections were refused.
However, their recent statements make it clear that the interrogation
was not conducted properly and that decisions that were subsequently
made were wrong," the statement further read. The group also addressed
authorities who allowed the administrative investigation as well as
those who did not permit a retrial, saying: "Do not obstruct justice
or conceal evidence."
–Boundary_(ID_pC0iqQRwT94ZDKD5FX xUkA)–