Kılıçdaroğlu slams verdict in Dink case
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (L) is served breakfast in the house of a Bolu local on his way to İzmit. AA photo
Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu slammed the recent court ruling on Hrant Dink murder, saying the decision has damaged the public conscience and Turkey’s judicial system should be independent.“There is no justice in Turkey,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters in the nortwestern province of İzmit on Jan. 20. “The decision has put the prosecutor and the chief judge against each other, the courts should be independent.”
The CHP leader noted that there are major reactions from society to the ruling. “Especially, the decision that the crime was not instigated by an illegal organization is not correct. There are many books proving the opposite, but the court ignored them all,” he said.
The file in the Dink case did not have enough evidence to determine whether the Turkish-Armenian journalist’s murder was organized, Judge Rüstem Eryılmaz said Jan. 18. Conspirator Yasin Hayal was sentenced to aggravated life in prison Jan. 17 for his role in the killing, but alleged co-conspirator Erhan Tuncel was acquitted in the case.
However, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office filed an appeal on the murder verdict on the same day, saying the evidence for organization behind the murder was already in the case file.
Meanwhile, reactions also rose from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians who criticized the ruling.
The chief judge’s comment, that he too was not satisfied with the verdict in the Hrant Dink ruling, was unacceptable, according to AKP Vice Chairman Ömer Çelik. “If you do not have a clear conscience about the verdict, you cannot rule that way. “It is obvious that there was an illegal organization behind the murder.”
