Hrant Dink Trial: The Lightheartedness of the Perpetrators
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated before his office a year and a half ago. The ostensible reason was that Dink had “insulted Turkish blood”. The gunman was arrested and put on trial, along with his associates. Since then, it has emerged in the investigation and trial that security officials had been warned several times about the plot to murder Dink, but did nothing and instead told the concerned citizen to tell no one. Since the trial began, evidence and files have mysteriously disappeared. Also disturbing has been the lightheartedness of the perpetrators and the seeming collusion of police. On the day of his arrest, grinning police officers took photos of themselves with the happy murderer in front of a Turkish flag. In yesterday’s trial session, that mockery again was apparent.
People I know who have attended the trial in the past have told me that Dink’s wife, lawyer and supporters have been pushed, insulted and threatened by nationalist spectators, with no move by the court to protect them. In response to complaints, the trial will now be video-recorded, but what happens in the hallways of justice will likely still be a travesty.
This whole thing is a shame.