In Dink case, demand for recusal refused
In the trial of the public officials who are responsible for Dink murder, which was held on April 19, the demand for recusal of the suspects is refused. The first hearing of the main Dink case with 26 suspects, including Ramazan Akyürek, Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Muhittin Zenit, Celalettin Cerrah, Sabri Uzun, Reşat Altay and Engin Dinç, was held on April 19 in Istanbul 14th High Penal Court. In the first hearing, suspects Yılmaz Angın and Ali Fuat Yılmazer demanded recusal.
Examining the demand, the second committee of Istanbul 14th High Penal Court refused the demand on the ground that "there is no reason for calling the impartiality into question." It is expected that the defense attorneys will object to this decision.
Istanbul 14th High Penal Court released the arrested suspects Muhittin Zenit and Özkan Mumcu and the prosecution objected to this decision and demanded correction.
Istanbul 14th High Penal Court considered the objection by prosecution and decided that there is no need for correction. The court sent the objection to 15th High Penal Court, which is a higher one, for examining the release decision.
Another public official will appear in the dock
In addition to the ongoing case against the public officials, the prosecution is conducting another investigation. Istanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor İrfan Fidan prepared an indictment against Mehmet Ali Özkılıç, who is a former member of the State Supervisory Council and a former civil inspector, with the accusation of “assisting an armed terrorist organization without being a member of the organization." Deputy Prosecutor Fidan sent the indictment to Istanbul 14thHigh Penal Court and demanded the indictment is joined with the ongoing case.
In the indictment, it is stated that “Mehmet Ali Özkılıç, while he was in office, tried to prevent the prosecution of the officials from Trabzon Security Directorate and General Directorate of Security Intelligence Branch.”
It is claimed that Mehmet Ali Özkılıç, during his service as the civil inspector, deliberately hadn't used the intelligence reports which informs that “Yasin Hayal will murder Hrant Dink at all costs” in the reports that he wrote about the public officials.
