Istanbul court opts not to hear testimony from former intelligence officer in Hrant Dink trial

Duvar English

An Istanbul court has decided to not hear testimony from former National Intelligence Agency (MİT) Istanbul regional head Ahmet Köksoy in the ongoing trial regarding the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was assassinated in January 2007.

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The court ruled that it had heard the testimony of enough witnesses, and it was therefore unnecessary to call upon Köksoy, who led MİT's Istanbul department at the time of Dink's death, to testify. The next hearing of the trial is scheduled for November 24-26. 

Dink was shot dead on Halaskargazi Street, in the Şişli district of Istanbul, where the headquarters of the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos are located. 

Ogün Samast, then a 17-year old jobless high school dropout, confessed to the killing and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail back in 2011.

The case grew into a wider scandal after it emerged that security forces had been aware of a plot to kill Dink but failed to take action against it.

Dink's relatives and followers of the case have long claimed that government officials, police, military personnel and members of MİT had played a role in Dink’s murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.

Four arrested suspects, including former police intelligence and military officials, are on trial for their involvement.

Samast was slated to be released in early September of this year, but an additional four years was added to his sentence after he allegedly attacked guards in the prison in which he is being held.

13 years on, impunity lingers in Armenian-Turkish journalist murder case