The secret witness of the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink stated that prime suspect Ogün Samast was not alone when he committed the murder, but together with defendant Yasin Hayal. The witness furthermore put forward that Hayal's brother Osman Hayal was also present at the scene of crime. Thus, the three defendants were identified again in yesterday's hearing (10 May) held at the Beşiktaş Courthouse on Istanbul's European side.
Hrant Dink, then chief editor of the Armenian Agos newspaper, was shot in front of his office in Istanbul on 19 January 2007.
The secret witness could not be heard in the previous hearing because there was no interpreter. This time, s/he testified in a separate room. Technical problems caused interruptions when the witness's statement was transferred to the main court room.
The secret witness stated, "I came from the Akbank branch and was walking along the street. One person stopped Dink and started talking to him. Two people approached them, a short and stout person with curled hair and a slimmer person. They both shot".
The Hayal brothers denied the allegations. Yasin Hayal claimed he was in Trabzon (eastern Black Sea coast) at the time. Samast said he committed the murder on his own. The defendants' lawyers and lawyer Eda Salman in particular accused the secret witness of being biased.
Lawyers are against a change of court room
The hearing was attended by detained defendants Ogün Samast, Yasin Hayal, Erhan Tuncel, Ersin Yolcu and Ahmet İskender. Moreover, un-detained defendants Salih Hacısalihoğlu, Erbil Susaman, Mustafa Öztürk, Osman Hayal, Alper Esirgemez, Veysel Toprak, Şenol Akduman and Osman Alpay were present.
Court president Şeref Akçay announced that the coming hearing could be held in the more spacious court room of the Silivri Prison (west of Istanbul) if requested, since there had been complaints about the small size of the current court room.
Both the defendants' lawyers and the attorneys of the joint plaintiffs were against this proposal because it would "influence a fair trial". The case is tried at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court.
Reports from the Gendarmerie and the Police were read out during the hearing. The reports included information on connections between defendants Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, Hayal's accommodation when he was in Istanbul and writings of the Trabzon Police concerned with defendant Tunceli.
E-mails erased
The court president read out the reply from the Microsoft software company related to the e-mail addresses [email protected] and [email protected] used by defendant Erhan Tuncel.
Microsoft said that the request to obtain the e-mails of 2006-2007 was made to the American Consulate. It was forwarded to the FBI so formally the Ministry of Justice should have made the request". Furthermore, Microsoft stated that the accounts of the relevant addresses were investigated. However, the e-mails were deleted and the accounts were empty since they had not been used once within 270 days.
Relations to Ergenkon organization
The police sent a response regarding relations between the defendants of the Dink murder case and of the Ergenekon case, the trial concerned with the clandestine Ergenekon terrorist organization charged with various crimes staged for the ultimate purpose of triggering a military coup. The reply revealed connections to six defendants out of 52 names. These are Kemal Kerinçsiz, Veli Küçük, Erbay Çolakoğlu, Levent Göktaş, Levent Temiz and Muzaffer Tekin. The new findings were included in the Ergenekon file and can be taken from there any time if needed.
Witness Ayşe Paluş made her statement in the 13th hearing of the Dink murder case. She recalled that she saw Dink coming out of the Akbank branch. She stated that one person approached Dink from behind and shot him. After that, Paluş fainted, she said.
The court room was emptied in order to hear Erhan Özel from Amasya (northern Turkey) as a witness. Özel is currently detained for another crime. He said that he was not going to testify before the court room had not been emptied.
International Observers
The hearing was monitored by Vincent Delma, representative of the Paris Bar Association, Kee-yoon Kim, representative of the young lawyers of the Paris Bar Association, and Alexandre Couyoumdjouian from the bar association's Armenian Lawyers Association among other international observers. (SP/EÜ)
