ISTANBUL
An Istanbul court on Friday resumed the trial for the murder of Hrant Dink, prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist, after the first court hearing the case was abolished.
The trial of 18 suspects continues in Istanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court after a law enacted in March repealed ‘special-authority’ courts, which typically hear terrorism cases.
No defendants were present at the hearing on Friday, which saw attendance by the lawyers of the Dink family and of two accused, brothers Osman Hayal and Yasin Hayal. The case was adjourned until July 17, 2014.
Hrant Dink was murdered in January 2007 by then seventeen-year-old Ogun Samast.
Dink was the editor-in-chief of the still-running weekly Agos and was considered among the most prominent Armenian voices in Turkey.
Samast, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2011, said in his defense that he killed Dink for insulting “Turkishness.”
Yasin Hayal was sentenced to aggravated life sentence in January 2012 for inciting Samast to murder.
He had been acquitted of charges related to leading a terrorist organization but the ruling was overturned.
He was also given a three-month jail term for threatening Orhan Pamuk, renowned Turkish author and Nobel prize laureate.
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