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Prosecutor says Ergenekon’s Trabzon cell committed Dink murder

A Turkish prosecutor conducting the investigation into the assassination of Turkish- Armenian journalist Hrant Dink said on Monday that the murder was committed by Ergenekon’s cell in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.
 

Prosecutor Hikmet Usta announced his opinion as to who masterminded the assassination and as to the accusations directed at suspects during the 20th hearing of the 20-suspect Dink trial at the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court. The prosecutor said the murder was the work of Ergenekon’s Trabzon cell and demanded life imprisonment for seven suspects, including key suspects Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, on charges of attempting to destroy the constitutional order.

“The Dink assassination was the latest assassination of the deep structures. The suspects acted on ideological motives. The target was the Turkish Republic and public order. There is suspicion that the murder is linked to the Ergenekon network. We have reached the conclusion that the Dink murder was committed by the Trabzon cell of the Ergenekon terrorist organization,” Prosecutor Usta said.

A Turkish prosecutor conducting the investigation into the assassination of Turkish- Armenian journalist Hrant Dink said on Monday that the murder was committed by Ergenekon’s cell in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.
 

Prosecutor Hikmet Usta announced his opinion as to who masterminded the assassination and as to the accusations directed at suspects during the 20th hearing of the 20-suspect Dink trial at the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court. The prosecutor said the murder was the work of Ergenekon’s Trabzon cell and demanded life imprisonment for seven suspects, including key suspects Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, on charges of attempting to destroy the constitutional order.

“The Dink assassination was the latest assassination of the deep structures. The suspects acted on ideological motives. The target was the Turkish Republic and public order. There is suspicion that the murder is linked to the Ergenekon network. We have reached the conclusion that the Dink murder was committed by the Trabzon cell of the Ergenekon terrorist organization,” Prosecutor Usta said.

Tuncel, a former police informant, is believed to have supplied the hit man with a gun and Hayal is accused of having acted with Tuncel in masterminding the Dink murder. Among other key suspects is Ogün Samast, the ultranationalist teenager who gunned Dink down outside his office in 2007. He was standing trial at the İstanbul 2nd Juvenile Court since he was a minor at the time of the murder. Samast has recently been sentenced to 22 years, 10 months in prison by the court.

Meanwhile, during Monday’s hearing, lawyers representing the Dink family said they had reached new and crucial evidence about the murder and requested the prosecutor delay announcing his opinion for further investigation into the newly emerged evidence. However, the prosecutor denied their request and the lawyers left the courtroom in protest.

Source: Todays Zaman