New suspect charged over Hrant Dink's murder

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish prosecutors have charged a 19th suspect in connection with the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist, 'Agos' weekly editor-in-chief Hrant Dink. Coskun Igci, a relative of one of the alleged masterminds of the January 19 murder, was accused of belonging to an illegal organization and aiding the assassination, AFP reports. If found guilty, he risks a jail term of 22 to 35 years. The prosecutors called for Igci's case to be merged with the trial of the 18 other suspects, which began in Istanbul July 2.



Igci's nephew Yasin Hayal and Tuncel Erhan are accused of masterminding the plot and recruiting 17-year-old Ogun Samast to carry out the murder. Hayal told Igci he was plotting to kill Dink and sought his help to buy a gun, the indictment says. Igci maintains he informed a member of the intelligence service of the local paramilitary police of his nephew's plans, it says. The Turkish security forces are under fire for failing to prevent the murder despite having received several intelligence notes of a plot to kill Dink. But no official has so far been charged over the murder.



Hrant Dink was known for his publications about mass killings of Armenians in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey. He had repeatedly received threats from radical Turkish nationalists. According to the investigation, Ogun Samast was connected with nationalists. He gunned down the 53-year-old journalist on January 19 near his 'Agos' editorial office in Istanbul.