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ANKARA: First Hearing Of Prime Suspect At Juvenile Court

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  • ANKARA: First Hearing Of Prime Suspect At Juvenile Court

    FIRST HEARING OF PRIME SUSPECT AT JUVENILE COURT

    BIAnet.org
    March 1 2011
    Turkey

    The prosecution of Ogun Samast, one of the prime suspects in the murder
    case of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, started on 28 February
    at a juvenile court in Istanbul. Samast's request for a closed session
    was rejected. Nine of Dink's relatives were accepted as co-plaintiffs.

    Elif GENCKAL [email protected] Istanbul - BÄ°A News Center01 March
    2011, Tuesday The trial against defendant Ogun Samast, triggerman
    suspect in the Hrant Dink murder case, started on Monday (28 February)
    before the Sultanahmet (Istanbul) 2nd Juvenile High Criminal Court.

    Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink was shot in front of his office in
    Å~^iÅ~_li/Istanbul in bold daylight more than four years ago on 19
    January 2007. Dink was the founder and then Editor-in-Chief of the
    Armenian Agos newspaper.

    Lawyer Fethiye Cetin, joint attorney of the Dink family, spoke
    to the journalists in front of the courthouse. She said that the
    Dink family members were not going to attend any hearing held at
    the Sultanahmet Juvenile Court in order to express their protest
    against the circumstances that Samast is being tried at a children
    and juveniles court.

    The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court had decided in October 2010
    that Samast should be prosecuted at a Children and Juvenile Court
    because he was under-age at the time of the murder. This decision
    came after a trial period of more than three years.

    Nine members of Dink family co-plaintiffs The court accepted Rakel
    Dink, widow of the slain journalist, his brothers Arat and Hosrof
    Dink, furthermore Ferat, Ara, Aycan, Zabal, Maral and HaskanoÅ~_
    Dink as co-plaintiffs. The application of the Agos newspaper and the
    Birgun daily, a nation-wide newspaper Dink used to write for, for
    co-plaintiff status were accepted as well. Savo and Mikail Yagbasan,
    brothers of Rakel Dink, were dismissed as co-plaintiffs because they
    had "not suffered direct harm", the court reasoned.

    Samast a "child dragged into crime"?

    The court rejected the request to hold a closed session without the
    press. The journalists were allowed into the court room at around
    noon time. The court president called Samast a "child having been
    dragged to crime".

    Six witnesses heard At the Monday hearing, the court took the
    statements of eyewitnesses Akif Calıkoglu, Cemal Yıldırım, Ahmet
    Emin Ozmete and Agos employees Dina Murat, Christine Dellaloglu and
    Ä°brahim Caglayan. The court decided to keep Samast in detention. Most
    of the witnesses said that the weapon Samast was holing was "grey"
    or of "light colour". The court is going to hear ten other witnesses
    in the coming hearing on 4 April.

    Joint attorney Bahri Bayram Belen interrogated Samast on the weapon.

    Belen indicated that the aim was not to prosecute Samast for a high
    prison sentence but to reveal the concrete background of the murder.

    Decision for Juvenile Court and its appeal On 25 October 2010, the
    Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court decided for a "lack of jurisdiction"
    in relation to defendant Samast according to certain amendments
    regarding the Anti Terror Law (TMY). Thereupon, the court decided to
    prosecute Samast before a Children and Juveniles Court.

    The Dink family lawyers appealed the decision on the following day and
    demanded to handle the case as a whole at the 14th High Criminal Court.

    Joint attorney Arzu Becerik had announced that Samast could
    be released in a short time because his case was transferred to a
    juvenile court. Becerik had expressed her concern that Samast could
    be released pending trial in January 2010.

    Becerik criticized that the trial fell in abeyance when Samast's file
    was transferred to the juvenile court and that the procedures gave
    the impression that a decision would not be given any time soon. "If
    the prosecution of Samast will be continued at a juvenile court, he
    will be out of prison after five years", the lawyer stated referring
    to certain applications of mitigation for juveniles.

    Samast facing 20 years in jail Samast is facing up to 20 years in
    prison on charges of "membership of an illegal organization" and
    "unlicensed gun possession".

    Samast stands accused of killing journalist Dink in front of the Agos
    newspaper office in Istanbul. He was arrested on his way back to his
    home town Trabzon at the Samsun coach station (Black Sea coast) one
    day after the murder. He has been detained for four years. (EG/EO/VK)




    From: A. Papazian
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