New charges against Hrant Dink’s murderer

Ogün Samast, the individual responsible for the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, the General Editor of Agos Newspaper, has faced new charges following his release last week. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has prepared an indictment, categorizing Samast as a 'child led to crime.'

The charges include "committing crimes on behalf of an armed terrorist organization without being a member," with potential prison time ranging from 7 years and 6 months to 12 years. 

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The complainants listed in the indictment include Arat, Delal, Hasrof, Rahil Dink, and Sera Dink Nazarıan. The İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court, which handled the original case, also filed a criminal complaint. 

The charges against Yasin Hayal as the "leader of a criminal organization" and Erhan Tuncel and Ogün Samast as "members of a criminal organization" were reiterated in the indictment. Directly quoting Samast's statement from December 5, 2014, the document aims to build a case against him. 

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While the indictment acknowledges the absence of concrete evidence linking Samast to the "FETÖ/PDY armed terrorist organization," it highlights connections suggesting that Samast, along with other suspects, acted "in line with FETÖ's interests and objectives" during and after the Dink murder. Dubbed as "FETÖ," the Islamic group led by US-based cleric Fetullah Gülen is held responsible for the planning and execution of the murder.

The case is now in the hands of the İstanbul 2nd Juvenile Heavy Penal Court for further examination. 

Background 

The İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court, responsible for the murder case of Hrant Dink, decided to separate Ogün Samast's file due to his age at the time of the incident, sending it to the İstanbul Duty Juvenile Heavy Penal Court. 

On July 25, 2011, the İstanbul 2nd Juvenile Heavy Penal Court sentenced Samast to aggravated life imprisonment for "premeditatedly murdering Hrant Dink." Considering Samast's age at the time, the court reduced his sentence to 21 years and 6 months. 

Samast also received a 2-year prison sentence and a fine of 900 Turkish liras for "illegally carrying a weapon," later converted to 1 year and 4 months in prison and a fine of 600 Turkish liras, factoring in his age at the time of the incident. 

While serving his sentence, Samast faced additional legal consequences, receiving a 5-year, 1-month, and 13-day prison sentence for assaulting prison guards, a case initiated by Silivri 3rd Local Penal Court. 

"Statute of limitations” 

Hülya Deveci, a lawyer from the Dink family, expressed a legal perspective, stating, "According to the referral provisions, it appears that the statute of limitations for this case has expired." She argued that Samast cannot be tried due to the statute of limitations, explaining that despite the usual 5 to 10 years for this crime, the statute of limitations is 22.5 years. Considering Samast was under 18 when he committed the crime, the applicable period becomes two-thirds, equating to 15 years. Therefore, Deveci asserted that the necessary time for Samast's trial elapsed on January 19, 2022. 

Deveci highlighted the court's decision to base the verdict on Article 220 instead of Article 314 in 2019, stating, "The problem lies here. Despite our insistence in 2019 that 'you should be tried not for forming an organization to commit a crime but for violating the Constitution and being tried for armed organization charges,' we could not persuade the court. Despite all insistence, the court sentenced all defendants under Article 220 (forming an organization to commit a crime).

"Since the penalty prescribed by Article 220 is low, the Court of Cassation said the statute of limitations for this crime is 12 years. Naturally, it dropped the case due to the statute of limitations. If they had conducted the trial under Article 314 at the time, the statute of limitations for the case would not have expired, and Ogün Samast would still be in prison." (HA/VK)