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ANKARA: Former head of police intelligence to testify in Hrant Dink

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  • ANKARA: Former head of police intelligence to testify in Hrant Dink

    Cihan News Agency, Turkey
    Jan 4 2014

    Former head of police intelligence to testify in Hrant Dink case


    As part of the ongoing trial over the assassination of Turkish
    Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Prosecutor Muammer AkkaÅ? has called
    Sabri Uzun, the former head of intelligence for the National Police
    Department, to testify.

    Prosecutor AkkaÅ?, who recently complained to the media about being
    blocked in his second phase of the corruption investigation launched
    in December, had previously taken the testimony of police informant
    Erhan Tuncel in the Dink case. Tuncel is accused of ordering Ogün
    Samast to murder Dink in 2007.

    After the initial trial concluded, AkkaÅ?, who is in charge of
    investigations into terrorism, re-evaluated the Dink case from the
    beginning, searching for what previous investigators had missed.
    Asking defendants to testify again, the court heard further testimony
    from Tuncel in November.

    Tuncel had said that Dink's murder was plotted by an organization even
    higher than Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist organization that was
    convicted in 2013 of fomenting chaos in the country. Tuncel argued
    that Police Chief Ali Fuat Yılmazer and Uzun had failed to notify the
    authorities of Dink's murder and prepared a false report on the case.
    Tuncel said Yılmazer and Ramazan Akyürek made him the number one
    suspect in an effort to hide their own role in the murder. Tuncel also
    claimed that the gendarmerie had nothing to do with the murder, but
    that the Trabzon police had neglected their duty in the case.

    `You do not have the police in front of you, but a murder gang,'
    Tuncel said in his testimony, claiming that the gang's members are
    doing everything they can to keep it a secret.

    According to Tuncel, former Ä°stanbul Governor Muammer Güler and former
    Ä°stanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah have nothing to do with the
    case. Tuncel accused Akyürek of organizing the murder. Tuncel denied
    Akyürek's claim that he is connected to the gendarmerie, which Tuncel
    called an effort by Akyürek to hide his connections with the police.

    Uzun is expected to go to court in Ä°stanbul to testify about Tuncel's
    accusations.

    The next hearing of Dink's trial will be held on Jan. 7.

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