Dink lawyers to take case against

[Sari Galin]

Lawyers for assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s family have decided to bring a case against some of the police involved in the Dink murder investigation to the European Court of Human Rights. One of the lawyers, Fethiye Çetin, noted that they had brought allegations of misconduct and obstructing justice to Turkish prosecutors but to no avail.

The lawyers for Dink’s family had appealed to the İstanbul chief public prosecutor regarding seven policemen, including former Trabzon police intelligence chief Engin Dinç and former anti-terror team head Yahya Öztürk, with the claim that these officers had obstructed justice. The Istanbul chief public prosecutor sent the appeal to the Trabzon Public Prosecutor’s Office, which decided on Jan. 10 that there was no need to open a court case against the policemen. The lawyers appealed the decision to the nearest high criminal court, in Rize, but last week the court in Rize also decided not to open a case against the policemen. “The suspects did not commit murder by negligence and were not aware of the murder plans,” the Rize court said.

Çetin told Today’s Zaman that with the decision of the Rize court, they had exhausted all domestic legal remedies with regards to the police.

“We are waiting for a writ from the Rize court. Then we have six months to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, and we will do so as soon as possible,” Çetin said.

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