Dink family lawyers have less faith than ever in Turkish justice

As the 13th hearing in the trial of the alleged killers of Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink is held in Istanbul today, Reporters Without Borders reiterates its support for his family and its lawyers in their struggle for a fair trial and for all the circumstances of his murder to be brought to light. The Dink family’s lawyers have just filed a complaint against Istanbul deputy governor Mustafa Güran accusing him of abuse of authority and obstruction for refusing to let them see the report of an investigation by interior ministry inspectors into the alleged role of police and security officials in the murder. The lawyers, Fethiye Cetin and Ismail Cem Halavurt, say they need access to the report for various initiatives, including an appeal against a 12 March decision clearing police chief Celalettin Cerrah of any responsibility. Once they had made it clear they intended to appeal, the governor should have released the report to them, they insist. Although guaranteed by Turkish legislation and the European Convention on Human Rights, any possibility of a free and fair trial is being blocked the deputy’s governor’s refusal to cooperate. He would face a possible three-year sentence if the prosecutor’s office agreed to try him on a charge of abuse of authority under article 257-1 of the criminal code. The Dink family and its lawyers also want the Dink murder trial assigned to prosecutors who work on it full-time so that it is given the required attention. Until now, the prosecutors in charge of the case have had to handle other cases at the same time. A determined campaigner for recognition of the Armenian genocide, Dink was prosecuted many times in connection with his work as a journalist and was targeted by judicial officials and ultranationalists in the months prior to his death. He was gunned down on 19 January 2007 in the Istanbul district of Sisli, just a few meters from the entrance to Agos, the weekly newspaper he created in 1996.