An Armenian expert commented on possible actions of official Yerevan over Istanbul court decision on Armenian-Turkish journalist, Agos newspaper editor-in-chief Hrant Dink murder case.
As Artak Shakaryan told a news conference in Yerevan, Armenia must boost international organisations' awareness of harsh discrimination against national minorities in Turkey, with Dink killed because of his nationality.
The expert believes January 17 court ruling to have increased chances for the adoption of the bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial by French Senate.
A Turkish court has convicted Yasin Hayal, a major suspect in the killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, of instigating a murder and sentenced him to life in prison, while Erhan Tuncel was acquitted of murder charges by the court.
The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court issued its ruling in the 25th hearing of the case. Tuncel was given 10 years, six months for his role in a McDonalds bombing in 2004. The court, however, acquitted Hayal and several others of charges of acting under a terrorist organization's orders, angering lawyers who say the trial failed to shed light on alleged connections between the suspects and some state officials.
The Dink family's lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, slammed the ruling, saying it meant that a “state tradition of political murders” was deliberately left intact because it did not deal with accusations of state involvement in the 2007 murder.
