The Armenian Mirror-Spectator. ISTANBUL (DuvarEnglish.com) — The Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office presented a 68-page sentencing opinion to the court regarding the murder case of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. But the court gave only two days to Dink family’s lawyers to prepare their review of the prosecutors’ legal assessments.
Lawyers for Dink’s family slammed the court’s decision, saying that they needed two months to file their opinion with regards to such a high-profile case, in which police officers and intelligence agents stand trial.
Thirteen years after Dink was assassinated in Istanbul, the trial of several people accused of involvement in the murder, including government security officials, is still dragging on.
A 2017 indictment accused the police officers and intelligent agency now on trial of neglect of duty, destroying evidence and other offenses. A total of 77 suspects are on trial as part of the case.
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During the hearing on December 14, the chief public prosecutor’s office presented its final sentencing opinion to the court.
A day later, on December 15, the court asked the Dink family’s lawyers to present their review of this opinion of the prosecutors but gave only two days to submit their answer, i.e. until the next scheduled hearing on December 17.
Dink family’s lawyers criticized the court’s decision, saying that they need two months to prepare their opinion with regards to such a high-profile case.
Ogün Samast, then a 17-year old jobless high school dropout, confessed to the killing and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail back in 2011.
The case grew into a wider scandal after it emerged that security forces had been aware of a plot to kill Dink but failed to take action against it.
Dink’s relatives and followers of the case have long claimed that government officials, police, military personnel and members of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) had played a role in Dink’s murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.