A new development has unfolded in the investigation of the state officials involved in the trial for the murder of editor-in-chief of Istanbul’s Agos Weekly Hrant Dink.

As reported by ArmenPress, citing the Turkish Taraf, after the Turkish Ministry of Justice permitted the interrogations of other state officials along with Jelalettin Jerah, who was Istanbul’s chief of police at the time, and Ali Fuat Ylmazer, the court of Istanbul decided to combine the interrogations of the state officials taking place in Trabizon, meaning all the officials involved in the trial, including ex-chief of the department of investigations in Trabizon Ramazan Akyurek, then chief of police of Trabizon Reshat Altay, one of the leaders of the police investigation department Engin Dinc, Faruk Sarn, Erjan Demir, Ozkan Mumju, Muhittin Zenit, Mehmet Ayhan, will now be interrogated by Istanbul’s state prosecutors.

They are the officials suspected of being previously informed about Dink’s murder, but not fulfilling their official duties.

Hrant Dink was murdered in front of Agos Weekly’s editorial office on January 19, 2007. On 17 January 2012, the 13^th Court of Heavy Crimes of Istanbul sentenced Yasin Hayal, who was recognized as guilty for planning and directing the murder, to life in prison and sentenced Ogyun Samast, who perpetrated the crime, to 22.5 years in prison, explaining that Samast was a minor at the moment of committal of the crime. In the verdict it was mentioned that the defendants weren’t members of an “armed terrorist group”, but an organization “created to commit a crime”. On 5 May 2013, the Court of Appeals of Turkey overturned the point in the verdict announced by the 13^th Court of Heavy Crimes of Istanbul in which it was mentioned that an “armed terrorist organization” wasn’t behind the murder of Hrant Dink.