Shooters at Dink Ceremony Released

Two men who had been caught firing shots during the 40th day commemoration mass for murdered journalist Hrant Dink have been released, despite their statements that they were targeting Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan.

İstanbul

A penal court in İstanbul has released Volkan Karaova and Yilmaz Can Özalp, two men who had fired shots in the yard of the Kumkapi Mother of Mary Patriarchy Church during the mass said on murdered journalist Hrant Dink's fortieth death day.

The two men had initially claimed that their target was the Armenian Patriarch in Turkey, Mesrob Mutafyan. However, at their first hearing in July, they claimed that they had been running away from pimps and had sheltered in the church. At yesterday's (30 July) hearing, they returned to their first statement.

Return to initial statement

According to Hrant Dink's newspaper, "Agos", the two detained defendants attended the hearing yesterday.

Özalp had previously stated that they had entered the church garden by accident. He admitted though that his statement had been a lie and had been aimed at avoiding punishment. He repeated that the real target had been Mutafyan:

"The statements İ gave the police and the prosecution were true. Before our last hearing İ talked to Volkan in the court lockup and he said that his cell mates had told him [that the case would last a long time if we stuck to our statements]. 'İf you change them, you will be released', they had said. İ got frightened and changed my statement."

The court took into account the time the defendants had spent in detention and the fact that the evidence had been collected and decided on their release. (EÖ/EÜ/AG)