Hrant Dink jurists face penalty

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

This file photo shows friends of Journalist Hrant Dink staging protest during a trial. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

Judicial authorities have recommended that disciplinary proceedings be launched against the judge and the prosecutor in the Hrant Dink murder trial for statements they made following the case’s controversial verdict in January, an official said yesterday.

The recommendations were found in an inspectors’ report on the conduct of judge Rüstem Eryılmaz and prosecutor Hikmet Usta; the document has now reached the Supreme Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors (HSYK) but has not yet been discussed, the council’s deputy chair, Ahmet Hamsici, told reporters yesterday.

Although Eryılmaz’s court ruled in January that Dink’s murder was not the work of an organized group, the judge later conceded that he himself was not happy with the outcome. 

“We do not think it is a simple murder. But the evidence was limited. The suspects were cleared of the charges [of membership in an outlawed group], but it does not mean that there was no organization,” he said at the time. 

Usta subsequently hit back at Eryılmaz, saying the evidence was sufficient but was not properly utilized.

Hamsici also said there had been around 500 complaints against the judicial authorities handling the probe into Ergenekon, the alleged network that plotted to unseat the government, for leaking confidential information. Some 600 lawsuits have now been opened on charges of such offenses, he said.

Hamsici also refused to comment on widespread criticism that the embezzlement probe into the Deniz Feneri (Lighthouse) charity had resulted in overly lenient charges against the suspects.

Dink, an Armenian-Turkish journalist, was gunned down outside his office in 2007.