HDP Demands to Effectively Investigate Dink Case

Protest banner in Istanbul. (Source: Armenpress)

ISTANBUL (Armenpress) — President of the parliamentary faction of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) demanded the parliament of the country to investigate the murder case of the Armenian editor-in-chief of “Agos” periodical Hrant Dink.

In the proposal submitted to the parliament, they mentioned 9 years have already passed since the crime and there are still no signs of an effective investigation. They stated that the deep ties engaged in the murder have not been revealed, the role of the media establishments that had targeted him prior to the murder has not been examined. The party added that the removal from office of the prosecutor that had filed the lawsuit contributed to the corruption of the investigation.

Prosecutor Kokcu prepared indictments against a number of high ranking officials, including former Istanbul Intelligence Branch Chief Sabri Uzun, former Trabzon Provincial Police Chief Resat Altay and the current Chief of Security General Directorate Intelligence Branch Engin Dinc.  The indictments were sent back by the General Prosecutor’s Office with justifications of existing “drawbacks” in them.

The Armenian editor of the Istanbul-based “Agos” newspaper Hrant Dink was killed on January 19, 2007 as a result of armed attack in front of the editorial.

Dink`s assassination organizer Yasin Hayal was sentenced to life imprisonment and the perpetrator Ogyun Samast was sentenced to imprisonment for 22 years by the decision of the court on January 17, 2012.

On October 2014 Istanbul’s 5th High Criminal Court made a decision to start the trial into the murder of Hrant Dink from zero.

An earlier investigation showed that the prosecutors who worked on the case ignored serious allegations regarding the involvement of top police officers in the murder.