Turkey Court Accepts 3rd Indictment on Hrant Dink Murder Case

ISTANBUL (News.am) — The third indictment on Hrant Dink murder case was finally accepted by the Istanbul 14th Court for Serious Crimes.

When this indictment was twice rejected by the court, Prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü, who examines this murder case, had appealed this court decision, and as a result, it was decided to accept this indictment, according to Cumhuriyet (Republic) daily of Turkey.

Kökçü had motioned that the third indictment be accepted and joined to the main murder case.

The third indictment on this murder case brings charges against current and former high-ranking military servicemen, police officers, and state employees.

Journalist Hrant Dink, the founder and chief editor of Agos Armenian bilingual weekly of Istanbul, was gunned down on January 19, 2007, outside the then office of this newspaper.

In 2011, the perpetrator, Ogün Samast, was sentenced by a juvenile court to 22 years and ten months for the murder.

After long court proceedings and appeals, however, a new probe was ultimately launched in this murder case, and regarding numerous former and serving senior Turkish officials’ complicity in this assassination.