Friends of Hrant Dink Rally Ahead of 9th Hearing
Demonstration in front of the Istanbul Court House ahead of the 9th hearing of Hrant Dink’s murder case. (Photo: Agos)
ISTANBUL, Turkey—The 9th hearing of the Hrant Dink murder case took place on Tuesday in Istanbul, according to Turkey-based Armenian newspaper, Agos. Ahead of the hearing, Friends of Hrant Dink held a demonstration in front of the court house, providing information of the progress of the case.
A statement was read during the demonstration on behalf of Friends of Hrant Dink member Bülent Aydın. “For years, we have been saying that the public officials who have a hand in organizing and concealing this murder should be tried with perpetrators,” Aydın said. The statement also noted that during the trial in 2015 revealed that the arrested public officials did nothing to prevent Dink’s murder.
Aydın also stated that they are waiting for the indictment to be issued against the defendants. “If the case against gendarme personnel is joined with this one, our demand will be partly fulfilled,” he said.
“The recent developments in the case were staring [right] in the face right after the murder. However, the government did nothing to reveal the crime’s organization, until it had the chance to pin the crime on Gülenist circles. They concealed this murder collectively.”
According to Aydın’s Twitter account, the trial questioned former law enforcement officers Rammaz Akyürek, Şükrü Yıldız and Mehmet Ali Özkılıç, all who are in custody.
Aydın also noted that the judge of Dink’s case has been changed, due to the detention of former judge Bünyamin Karakaş on December 2 over governmental suspicion of Karakaş being tied to a Gülenist organization.
The hearing is set to be continued on December 22 and 23.
