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LAWYER DEMANDS MERGER OF SAMAST FILE WITH DINK'S CASE
Today's Zaman
Nov 3 2010
Turkey
A lawyer for the family of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
has demanded that the court hearing the trial into the journalist's
killing merge the case of Ogun Samast, the hitman in the murder,
who has been recently sent to trial in juvenile court since he was
a minor at the time of the crime, with the main Dink murder case.
At the 15th hearing of the Dink trial at the 14th High Criminal
Court on Oct. 25, the young man's defense lawyer, Levent Yıldırım,
reiterated that he had requested that court on Oct. 21 allow Samast
to be tried in juvenile court since he was a minor, 17 years old,
at the time of the incident. Yıldırım, who referred to the "Law
of Amendment to the Counterterrorism Law" asked for a transfer to
juvenile court for his client. Although Guray Dag, a co-plaintiff
lawyer for the Dink family, argued that Samast should be tried with the
other suspects in the same court, the court accepted Yıldırım's
request. The presiding judge decided that according to the new
Counterterrorism Law (TMK), the current court lacks subject-matter
jurisdiction and separated Samast's case from the Dink murder case,
ruling that Samast should be tried at a juvenile court.
Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer representing the Dink family, yesterday
submitted a two-page-long petition to the 14th High Criminal Court,
saying that although Samast's case was sent to juvenile court in
accordance with the new TMK, its legal relationship with Dink's murder
case means it should be merged with the main case.
Dink was editor-in-chief of the bilingual, Armenian and Turkish, Agos
weekly until he was killed on Jan. 19, 2007. Lawyers representing
the Dink family have long alleged that the murder was the doing of
Ergenekon, a clandestine group charged with plotting to overthrow
the government.
Cetin also recalled that a European Court of Human Rights' (ECtHR)
ruling has put much of the responsibility for Dink's murder on the
Turkish state and the judicial system for failing in its duty to
protect the life of the slain journalist and to effectively investigate
his murder. In a long-awaited unanimous ruling, the court also included
a reference to possible links between the murder of Dink and Ergenekon.
From: A. Papazian
Today's Zaman
Nov 3 2010
Turkey
A lawyer for the family of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
has demanded that the court hearing the trial into the journalist's
killing merge the case of Ogun Samast, the hitman in the murder,
who has been recently sent to trial in juvenile court since he was
a minor at the time of the crime, with the main Dink murder case.
At the 15th hearing of the Dink trial at the 14th High Criminal
Court on Oct. 25, the young man's defense lawyer, Levent Yıldırım,
reiterated that he had requested that court on Oct. 21 allow Samast
to be tried in juvenile court since he was a minor, 17 years old,
at the time of the incident. Yıldırım, who referred to the "Law
of Amendment to the Counterterrorism Law" asked for a transfer to
juvenile court for his client. Although Guray Dag, a co-plaintiff
lawyer for the Dink family, argued that Samast should be tried with the
other suspects in the same court, the court accepted Yıldırım's
request. The presiding judge decided that according to the new
Counterterrorism Law (TMK), the current court lacks subject-matter
jurisdiction and separated Samast's case from the Dink murder case,
ruling that Samast should be tried at a juvenile court.
Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer representing the Dink family, yesterday
submitted a two-page-long petition to the 14th High Criminal Court,
saying that although Samast's case was sent to juvenile court in
accordance with the new TMK, its legal relationship with Dink's murder
case means it should be merged with the main case.
Dink was editor-in-chief of the bilingual, Armenian and Turkish, Agos
weekly until he was killed on Jan. 19, 2007. Lawyers representing
the Dink family have long alleged that the murder was the doing of
Ergenekon, a clandestine group charged with plotting to overthrow
the government.
Cetin also recalled that a European Court of Human Rights' (ECtHR)
ruling has put much of the responsibility for Dink's murder on the
Turkish state and the judicial system for failing in its duty to
protect the life of the slain journalist and to effectively investigate
his murder. In a long-awaited unanimous ruling, the court also included
a reference to possible links between the murder of Dink and Ergenekon.
From: A. Papazian