Judge and Prosecutor of Dink Trial Face Investigation

The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) launched an investigation about Judge Rüstem Eryılmaz, Court President of the Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court that handled the Hrant Dink murder trial, and Public Prosecutor Hikmet Usta.

The HSK decided to forward a proposal to the Board Chairman with regard to the appointment of a board inspector in order to conduct a probe on the grounds of unauthorized statements made to the press by Judge Eryılmaz and Prosecutor Usta.

HSYK Deputy Secretary General Neslihan Ekinci announced, "An investigation was launched about Rüstem Eryılmaz, presiding over the Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court, and Istanbul Public Prosecutor Hikmet Usta by reasons of news published in various press and publication outlets and on the grounds of the news articles entitled "Judge of the Dink trial: I cannot say that no organization was involved, but...", "The judge spoke", "Prosecutor: There is an abundance of evidence for the involvement of an organization", "Prosecutor: There is an organization, there is lots of evidence but the court did not investigate" , "Scandal in the Dink trial" and "Such forgetfulness".

Judges and prosecutors are not entitled to issue any press releases without the permission of the HSYK. However, as far as the Dink trial was concerned, Eryılmaz' statements were reportedly assesses within the scope of a circular conceding that "judges can give a statement in required and urgent cases". It was noted that Eryılmaz had applied to the HSYK for the "permission to speak".

Investigating Judge Murat Kakilli said in an interview with bianet that Eryılmaz had obtained permission for the announcements made on NTV only.

"He had not been issued permission for the statement made to Vatan beforehand and the announcement to Habertürk afterwards. We launched a probe accordingly. Prosecutor Hikmet Usta had no permission anyways. It was decided to appoint inspectors. An investigation will be made into these statements", Kakilli explained.

Background

The trial regarding the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was decided at the 25^th hearing of the case on Tuesday (17 January). Dink, editor-in-chief of the Armenian Agos newspaper at the time, was gunned down in front of his office on 19 January 2007 in the district of Şişli (Istanbul). (IC/VK)