Key suspect of Hrant Dink murder case arrested

TRABZON - Doğan News Agency

Human rights activists hold pictures of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink at Taksim square in central Istanbul April 24, during a demonstration to commemorate the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. REUTERS

A key suspect in the investigation into the murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was arrested today in the Black Sea province of Trabzon, with the trial due the restart from scratch in September following a Supreme Court ruling.

Ersin Yolcu's arrest was carried out after the Supreme Court reversed the judgment on his release from jail. Yolcu is now again being held in Trabzon's Bahçeçik prison, pending the second trial.

Yolcu had been sentenced to 12 years and six month in prison, but was released in 2010 after the court ruled that there was not enough evidence proving that he was a "member of a terrorist organization." He was together with another key suspect, Ahmet İskender.

Dink, the renowned editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot in front of his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The triggerman, Ogün Samast, 17-years-old at the time of the murder, and Yasin Hayal, who was charged of being the instigator of the assassination, were convicted of the murder.

However, following the five year trial, the court ruled on Jan. 17, 2012 that it saw no "deep state" role in the plotting of the assassination, despite serious claims that a number of civil servants were "indirectly" involved and documents indicating this.

The ruling was overturned a year later by the Supreme Court of Appeals, which led to prosecutors restarting their investigation into the murder.