Surprise witness agrees to cooperate in Dink murder probe: report

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Dink was shot in front of his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.

The Istanbul prosecutor investigating the murder of the Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, Hrant Dink received a letter Feb. 13 from an inmate claiming to have information on Dink’s killers, Doğan news agency has reported. The informant, who is said to currently be serving a prison sentence in Turkey’s Tokat province in Central Anatolia, offered documentation relating to Dink’s murder in his letter and agreed to cooperate in the investigation provided the protection of his family was guaranteed by authorities.

In the letter, the informant revealed the murder had been planned by a group he had been a member of along with Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant and suspect, later released following the trial.

According to Doğan news agency’s report, the informant claimed to have conducted surveillance in front of the Agos newspaper building with Tuncel prior to the murder.

The Istanbul prosecutor charged with probing into the case Muammer Akkaş has taken action over the letter and granted protection to both the informant and his family, according to Doğan news agency.

Dink was the chief editor of Agos, a newspaper published in Turkish and Armenian, when he was shot in front of his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The triggerman, Ogün Samast, was sentenced to 22 years in prison, but the prosecutors’ inability to bring to the light the other actors behind the murder has caused widespread anger.