TURKEY: PROTESTS OUTSIDE COURT AS DINK MURDER TRIAL OPENS
Istanbul, 2 July (AKI) - The trail of 18 people charged in connection
with the murder earlier this year of prominent Armenian Turkish journalist
Hrant Dink got underway in Istanbul on Monday. At least 1,000 protesters -
including Dink's wife Rakel gathered outside the courthouse demanding justice.
"We are all Hrant Dink. We are all Armenians," they chanted. The case is being
heard in closed session with only immediate family members allowed to attend,
because one of the defendants, unemployed teenager Ogun Samast - accused of
shooting Dink - is under 18 years of age.
Trabzone was know to have links to nationalists and faces a lengthly jail
sentence if convicted. Prosecutors say he has confessed. Squabbles reported
erupted in the courtroom between prosecution and defence lawyers
Two of the other defendants, named as Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tunciel, are
accused of leading a nationalist groups and ordering the murder of Dink, who
was gunned down outside his newspaper's office in Istanbul in January.
Tuncel is reported to have accused officials for not responding his
earlier calls that Dink was to be murdered.
A hate figure for hardline nationalists, Dink's murder triggered anger
across Turkey. He was well known for writing articles about the controversial
mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I and
had received numerous death threats.
But some critics say that the investigation has not gone far enough,
alleging links between nationalists and some elements of the security forces,
and accusing police of failing to properly investigate reports of a plot to
kill Dink.
After Dink was killed, video footage emerged showing Samast posing with
police and the national flag after his arrest.
A lawyer for Dink's family, Fethiye Cetin, criticised the fact that
unnamed security officials were not in the dock. "This despite the established
fact that they had links with the suspects, had failed in their duty, as well
as concealed evidence and even sought to vindicate the murder and the
murderer," Cetin said, quoted by Turkey's Cihan news agency
International campaign groups joined the calls within Turkey for justice
to be done in Dink's trial.
"The Turkish authorities must ensure that, in examining the case, no
stone is left unturned. All those involved in the killing of Hrant Dink -
those actively involved in planning and carrying out the fatal attack and those
who failed to prevent it - must be brought to justice," said Amnesty
International's researcher on Turkey, Andrew Gardner, in a statement released
by Amnesty on Monday ahead of the trial.
"Hrant Dink's killing took place in the context of an increasing pattern
of deadly intolerance of freedom of expression," Garnder added. Amnesty said
Dink was targeted because of his work as a journalist who championed freedom of
expression and human rights.
The trial is a "critical test of the Turkish judiciary's independence,"
Human Rights Watch said in a statment.
"The Turkish judiciary muyst hold accountable any security forces
responsible for negligence or collusion in the murder," Human Rights Watch
added.
(Ajd/Aki)
Jul-02-07 18:53
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.431290994&par=0
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