Dink trial results in melee as suspects engage in fight

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, two suspected inciters of Dink’s murder argued and Hayal struck Tuncel, who was sitting in front of him.

The brother of Yasin Hayal, Osman Hayal, said, "My brother is a victim of a plot. Everything happened after he met Erhan Tuncel," reported the private news site CNNTürk. Tuncel intervened and said, "What does it have to do with me?" Yasin Hayal replied, "You get the money, you get the wage, I have the trouble." Hayal then punched Tuncel, causing the judge to send them out of the courtroom. After the murder, it was disclosed that Tuncel was working as a police informer at the time. The gunman, Ogün Samast, did not participate in the hearing.

Not remembering
Osman Hayal, who is being tried without being kept in custody, testified in court that he had nothing to do with the murder. Hayal said the only thing he knew was that he was in Istanbul on the date of murder and nothing more.

"It is a complete coincidence that I left Istanbul one hour after the murder," he said. Arzu Becerik, the Dink family’s lawyer, said there were contradictions in Osman Hayal’s testimonies. Hayal had given evidence previously as a witness and was added as a suspect to the case after it was disclosed he was in Istanbul on the date of the murder.

Zafer Üskül, head of the parliamentary commission on human rights, Sebahat Tuncel and Akın Birdal, Democratic Society Party, or DTP, deputies, Ufuk Uras, deputy of the Freedom and Solidarity Party, or ÖDP, and the Dink family also participated in the hearing, private news site BİANET reported. Dink was shot and died on Jan. 17, 2007, in central Şişli in front of the building of the multilingual weekly Agos, where he was the editor in chief.