Hrant Dink murder case: Final hearing adjourned
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The trial of public officials over the assassination of Agos Newspaper's Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink has been adjourned until March 26. The court board was expected to hand down its ruling today (March 5).
At the previous hearing of the case heard by the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court on February 10, Presiding Judge Akın Gürlek said that the ruling would be pronounced at the next hearing scheduled for today. However, at today's hearing, Gürlek said that the ruling would be announced later as one of the judges from the court board was on leave due to health problems.
Referring to the previous hearing where it was announced that "the last words of the defendants would be asked and the ruling would be given at the next hearing," the court has indicated that "as Judge Ferhat Şahin, one of the judges from the court board, had a surgical operation and had a medical report," the trial has been adjourned until March 26 at 10 a.m.
The court has also ruled that "all parties in the courtroom shall be informed that the last words of defendants will be asked and the judgement will be pronounced at the hearing" on March 26, 2021.
'A new phase in struggle for justice'
Before the hearing began at the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan today, Hrant's Friends held a press statement in front of the courthouse.
Addressing the reporters, Bülent Aydın, one of Hrant's Friends, summarized the 14-year struggle for justice for Hrant Dink since 2007.
Saying that the first trial ended in a scandalous ruling, Aydın indicated that the ruling was overturned after a struggle for justice for 10 years and the trial began again in 2016. Aydın briefly said:
"The case that ends today is this case. Turkey has never witnessed a political murder case where so many public officials are on trial. At the end of a phase where all aspects as to the Hrant Dink murder are brought to light and all parties are involved in the murder are really put on trial, if you ask us, 'How close have we got to justice', we have not got justice."
Aydın underlined that Dink murder was committed after a preparation phase for years. He noted that Dink was killed after a "preparation phase" where he was "pointed as a target, convicted in groundless cases, threatened and almost thrown to the hitmen after an organized process."
Indicating that "all details as to this preparation phase were known beforehand," Aydın briefly stated the following:
"There are unfortunately massive deficiencies as to the process before the murder. No defendant has been put on trial over this phase. Again, despite insistent legal efforts of Hrant Dink family's attorneys, no lawsuits have been filed against several public officials. The case of violation was heard at the Constitutional Court and it was rejected with such a controversial ruling as 'First the court phase must be finalized.' In the upcoming phases, we will be once again faced with the different periods of this case."
Aydın underlined that their struggle for justice would not end with this case. "On the contrary, the struggle for justice will enter a new phase with this trial." Concluding his remarks, Aydın said:
"For this reason, we reiterate what we said when the first case where the hitmen were put on trial: 'This trial will not end until we say so.'
"The struggle for justice will continue from now on as well. We will keep on saying, 'For Hrant, for justice.'
"Just as we said behind Hrant Dink with hundreds of thousand of people right after this murder, we will keep saying 'We are all Hrant, we are all Armenians' until this dark shade over this murder is lifted, the real partners of this murder are really tried and given the punishment they deserve."
Hrant Dink murder caseIn the lawsuit filed into the killing of Hrant Dink, the specially authorized 14th Heavy Penal Court handed down its ruling on 19 defendants on January 17, 2012. Arrested defendant Yasin Hayal was sentenced to aggravated life sentence on charge of "incitement to premeditated murder", 3 months in prison for threatining writer Orhan Pamuk and 1 year in prison for "possession of unregistered arm." He was acquitted of "leading an armed terrorist organization." While the court ruled that Erhan Tuncel, one of the arrested defendants, should be sentenced to 10 years, 6 months in prison and ruled for his release, it sentenced Ersin Yolcu to 12 years, 6 months, Ahmet İskender to 13 years, 4 months and Salih Hacısalihoğlu to 2 months, 15 days in prison. All defendants were acquitted of "membership in an armed terrorist organization." The 9th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation reversed the verdict of the local court on "organization" charges and ruled that the defendants should be retried for being the members of "an organization established to commit crimes", not being the members of "an armed terrorist organization." Upholding the conviction of Yasin Hayal on charges of "incitement to deliberate murder" and "threatening Orhan Pamuk", the Court of Cassation reversed the acquittal of Yasin Hayal on charges of "establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization", concluding that he should be convicted of "establishing and leading a criminal organization." While the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of Erhan Tuncel on charge of "producing explosive substance", it reversed his acquittal of "incitement to willful murder" on the grounds that he should be convicted for having aided the Hrant Dink murder. Case file at the 14th Heavy Penal Court, again Following the Court of Cassation verdict, the retrial began at the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court. After six hearings were held at this court, the file was sent to the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court as the heavy penal courts specially authorized as per the Article 10 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) were abolished. Accepting the indictment against public officials, the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court sent the case file to the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court so that it would be merged with the main trial of eight defendants, including Ogün Samast, Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, the verdicts of whom had been reversed. The board of the İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court returned the case file to the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court on the grounds that "consent was not requested in the ruling for merging the case files, the court was not authorized to hear terror crimes, the trial was at a further stage in the main case and there was no common defendant between the ones put on trial in this case and the public officials to be put on trial in the new case." The 5th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, who examined the files to resolve the dispute between the courts, merged the two files and ruled that the cases should be heard by the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court. The İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court ruled that the new trial of 50 defendants including gendarmerie officials should be merged with the main trial of 35 defendants including Ogün Samast, Erhan Tuncel and former security directors Ramazan Akyürek, Ali Fuat Yılmazer and Coşgun Çakır. New indictment While the trial was ongoing, the prosecutor conducting the investigation lodged a new indictment and demanded aggravated life sentence on charge of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" for 51 defendants including Fetullah Gülen, former prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, Editor-in-Chief of the closed Zaman newspaper Ekrem Dumanlu, journalists Adem Yavuz Arslan, Ercan Gün and dismissed Brigadier General Hamza Celepoğlu, the then Trabzon Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Ali Öz, Trabzon Gendarmerie Intelligence Branch Director Metin Yıldız and İstanbul Gendarmerie Intelligence Officer Lieutenant Muharrem Demirkale. The indictment also demanded that 40 defendants including Öz and gendarmerie officers be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on charge of "participating in the murder." Prison sentence for defendants in the main trial At the hearing on June 13, 2019, the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court ruled that the case files of nine main defendants including Ogün Samast and Yasin Hayal should be separated from the others. Handing down its judgement on July 17, 2019, the court ruled that Erhan Tuncel should be sentenced to 99 years, 6 months in total on charges of "attempted murder with premeditation and by using a bomb, damage to property, being a member of a criminal organization and aiding a wilful murder", Yasin Hayal to 7 years, 6 months in prison for "establishing and leadign an armed criminal organization" and Ogün Samast to 2 years, 6 months in prison on charge of "being a member of an armed criminal organization." The court also sentenced Zeynel Abidin Yavuz to 14 years, 22 days, Tuncay Uzundal to 16 years, 10 months, 15 days and Ahmet İskender and Ersin Yolcu to 1 year, 10 months, 15 days in prison each on similar charges. Defendants Salih Hacısalihoğlu and Osman Hayal were acquitted by the court. |
(HA/SD)