Dink Lawyers Insist on Prosecution of Trabzon Police Officers

The family of slain journalist Hrant Dink applied once more for the prosecution of the police officers of the Trabzon Police Directorate. The lawyers of the Dink family filed another petition because the police officers on duty in Trabzon (eastern Black Sea coast) at the time failed to thwart the assassination plot they had allegedly been informed about and thus rendered the murder possible.

Hrant Dink, a journalist with Armenian ethnic origin, was killed in front of his office on 19 January 2007 after he had been made a target by press trials beforehand. Dink was the founder and then editor-in-chief of the Armenian Agos newspaper.

Ten lawyers applied on behalf of five members of the Dink family to the Şişli (Istanbul) Criminal Court of First Instance. They demand to annul the decision of the Rize (eastern Black Sea coast) High Criminal Court regarding the closing of the proceedings against the officials of the Trabzon Police Directorate. The decision was given on 29 June 2010.

Joint attorneys Bahri Bayram Belen, Ergin Cinmen, Fethiye Çetin,  İnci İşbulur, Ayşenur Demirkale, Arzu Becerik, İ. Cem Halavurt, Güray Dağ, Sebu Aslangil and Hakan Bakırcıoğlu submitted the petition on 6 May. Concerning the police officers, the petition reads, "Recognizing Article 83 of the Turkish Criminal Law [Voluntary manslaughter by means of negligent behaviour], they contributed to the Dink murder by remaining passive; after the murder they altered evidence, concealed or destroyed it".

The lawyers claimed that the statements made by the former Trabzon Chief of Police, Reşat Altay, the former Deputy Chief of Police, Emin Arslan, and Police Chief Inspector Levent Yarımel confirm the allegations put forward together with the statements of the Trabzon police officers made until today. The lawyers requested to launch a trial against the Trabzon police officers by taking into account the "new evidence" that emerged from the statements given by Arslan, Yarımel and Altay at the Public Chief Prosecution of Istanbul, Ankara and Fatih.

Altay gave his statement to the Istanbul Fatih Chief Prosecution on 28 March that was then forwarded to the Trabzon Public Chief Prosecution. Altay stated that he had no information about the assassination plot against Dink. "If I had been informed, I would have taken all possible measures", he said.

"I had no information at all about the plotting of the Dink murder. If I had obtained any information about the murder and its preparations, I would have taken all sorts of precautionary measures. I would have effected and applied decisions for physical and technical surveillance. I would have contacted the other provinces and the Ankara Department Directorate. I would have put intense effort to precautionary measures that would have prevented the incident in any case. As a necessary means, I would have carried out an operation against Yasin Hayal and the organization he is an alleged member of".

The joint attorneys requested to consider the findings of the report prepared by the Prime Ministry Inspection Board, moreover the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the statements of the Trabzon Provincial Police Directorate officials given to the correspondent Sub-Commission of the Turkish Assembly and the testimonies given at the Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court.

The petition demands to open a trial against the following people: Faruk Sarı and Engin Dinç, on duty for the Chief of the Trabzon Police Intelligence Branch; the two former Chiefs of the Trabzon Police, Ramazan Akyürek and Reşat Altay; Muhettin Zenit who was responsible for the communication with assistant  intelligence staff member Erhan Tuncel; Özkan Mumcu, Mehmet Ayhan and Onur Karakaya, Department Chief Inspector Ercan Demir; the Chief of the Trabzon Anti-Terror Branch, Yahya Öztürk, and other people to be held responsible. (EÖ/VK)