Members of the Friends of Hrant initiative today held a protest in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul, as reported on the official Twitter page of member of Turkey’s oppositional People’s Democratic Party and Armenian Member of the Mejlis Garo Paylan, according to Tert.am.

Well-known Istanbul-Armenian journalist, intellectual and founding editor-in-chief of Agos Weekly Hrant Dink was assassinated on January 19, 2007 by 16-year-old Turkish nationalist Ogyun Samast in front of the editorial office of Agos Weekly in the Shishli district of Istanbul. The trail over Hrant Dink’s murder has been going on for almost 10 years.

In their statement, the members of the Friends of Hrant initiative, including Garo Paylan, state that they will follow the trials over Dink’s murder until the real culprits and their accomplices bear the punishment they deserve. The members of the initiative have also stated that the prosecutor’s office has stated stressing the irrefutable facts that they have been indicating since the very first days of the trial, and now the party demanding justice is not sure whether the presiding judges will be satisfied with just those facts or will eventually prefer to see the “naked truth”.

“These days when there is a mix of bloods and malice, we are feeling the need of someone like Hrant Dink more and more. We need to be in front of the Justice Palace today in order to speak out about our demand for justice with the same persistence that we demanded on the first day,” the statement reads.

Let us mention that former police chief of Trabizon Ali Fuat Yilmazer and former head of the intelligence headquarters Ramazan Akyurek, current assistant head of the intelligence division of Trabizon Police Hasan Durmusoglu and current chief of the headquarters of Turkish intelligence, former head of the intelligence headquarters of Trabizon Engin Dinc were interrogated during the court hearings held in September and October.

Ogyun Samast was interrogated based on the motion filed by the Dinks’ lawyer.

Later, during the November 7 court session, one of the culprits, former head of the intelligence headquarters of Trabizon Ramazan Akyurek made a startling statement when he confessed that then governor of Istanbul Celaleddin Cerah had demanded that he eliminate all materials attesting the preparation of the murder during the preparation stage of Dink’s murder.