Dink Trial Still Missing Main Protagonists...

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecution has decided that it lacks jurisdiction in the criminal complaints filed against Trabzon’s former Province Gendarmerie Commander Colonel Ali Öz and five gendarmerie officers, Istanbul’s Chief of Police Celalettin Cerrah and other police officers for gross negligence in the Hrant Dink murder.

Files sent to Sultanahmet and Trabzon 

Prosecutor Selim Berna Altay has sent the file on Cerrah and the Istanbul police officers to the Sultanahmet Chief Public Prosecution, also in Istanbul. The file on Öz and other gendarmerie officers, who have been accused of neglecting to do their duty before the murder was carried out, as well as of tampering with evidence, has been sent to the Trabzon prosecution.

Dink family has called for one trial for everyone 

Lawyers for the Dink family have previously demanded that gunman, participants and organizers within the state should all be tried in the main murder trial in Istanbul, at the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court.

However, the investigations so far have been limited a small group of mostly young men from Pelitli, a district of Trabzon, and the state connections have been ignored.

Trabzon may rule lack of jurisdiction 

In fact, in Trabzon only gendarmerie officer Okan Simsek and sergeant Veysel Sahin are being tried for not acting despite their knowledge of a planned murder.

Witness Coskun Igci, who is a gendarmerie informant and the brother-in-law of murder suspect Yasin Hayal, told the Trabzon 2nd Criminal Court of Peace at the hearing on 22 January 2008: “I told the (defendants) three to four months before the murder that Yasin Hayal would kill Hrant Dink. They told me they would be pursuing the case.”

After listening to the statements of the two suspects, the Trabzon court will decide whether to decree lack of jurisdiction and send the file to the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court. The court case is to continue on 20 March.

In Samsun trial for souvenir photos with murder suspect 

Other suspects in the murder case are currently being tried in Samsun, where gunman suspect O.S. was caught after the murder. The Samsun 4th Penal Court is trying Metin Balta, acting chief of the Anti-Terrorism Branch and officer Ibrahim Firat in relation to the souvenir pictures which police and gendarmerie officers took with suspect O.S. and a Turkish flag in the tea room of the Anti-Terrorism Branch. The court still has to decide whether to send the files to Istanbul for a joint trial.

Third hearing in Istanbul soon 

Meanwhile, the third hearing in the Dink murder trial will be held on 11 February in Istanbul. With the latest addition of Coskun Igci, the number of suspects tried has risen to 19, eight of them in detention.

The eight suspects in detention are O.S., Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Zeynel Abidin Yavuz, Ersin Yolcu, Ahmet Iskender, Tuncay Uzundal and Mustafa Öztürk. (EÖ/TK/AG)