They never expected real justice. But when an Istanbul court gave its verdict this week at the end of a controversial trial for the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, an Armenian newspaper editor, his family and lawyers were still shocked. The judge acquitted all 19 defendants on charges of belonging to an "armed terrorist organisation". Just one received a life sentence for conspiring to murder Mr Dink, who was gunned down in broad daylight outside the offices of AGOS, an Armenian weekly. Another suspect who had worked as an informant for the intelligence services was cleared, only to be sentenced instead to over ten years in jail for the 2004 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon.
展开▼
