An Istanbul court on Wednesday ordered that two former intelligence officers be remanded in custody over the 2007 killing of prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, Turkish media report.
Heavy Penal Court no.14 in Istanbul issued interlocutory order and found former civil servants Volkan Sahin and Veysal Sahin guilty of knowing the murder of Hrant Dink beforehand.
Dink, then editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was killed outside his office on Jan. 19, 2007.
Dink, 52, frequently spoke out on the Armenian genocide and Armenian rights in Turkey, and he was prosecuted a number of times for “denigrating Turkey” and “insulting Turkish identity.”
A 17-year-old unemployed youth, Ogun Samast, confessed to the murder and was sentenced toalmost 23 years in jail in 2011.
An investigation into the killing revealed that security forces had been aware of a plot to kill Dink, but failed to act.
The next hearing of the case will be held on Jan. 8.
