Turkey: Dink murder suspects sent to court for arrest

ISTANBUL

Nine suspects have been sent to court over the murder of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, legal sources said on Wednesday.

Five of the detained were taken into custody earlier on Wednesday upon the order of a public prosecutor at Istanbul’s terror and organized crimes unit. The prosecutor has asked the court to arrest the suspects.

The suspects, including police officers and former intelligence officers in Istanbul, are believed to have played a role in Dink’s murder in 2007 and to have forged, concealed and destroyed official documents.

Another suspect, Ahmet Ilhan Guler, a former senior manager at Istanbul police intelligence department, was let go by the prosecutor following his testimony.

Dink, one of the founders of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper, was killed outside his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.

His murder sparked widespread protests and led to speculation about the involvement of far-right groups and to claims of a cover-up.

Ogun Samast, of Trabzon on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, was jailed for 23 years in 2011. Samast, who was 17 years old at the time of the murder, claimed he killed Dink for “insulting Turkishness”.