Lawyer Involved in Journalist Murder Case Found Dead

Joint attorney of the Dink family, Hakan Karadağ, was found dead in the night of 4 June at his appartment in Cihangir on the European side of Istanbul. The 40-year-old lawyer was one of the attorneys concerned with the murder case of Hrant Dink, founder and chief editor of the Armenian Agos newspaper, who was killed in January 2007.

Another joint attorney of the Dink family, Hakan Bakırcıoğlu, announced that Karadağ was already dead when he had been found by a close friend at his home on 4 June. "We can be sure what happened only after the autopsy report. A friend of Hakan found him that way at around 3.00 am at night".

A funeral service for Karadağ was organized on Friday afternoon (4 June) starting from the Istanbul Bar Association. Karadağ's body was then brought to Adana (eastern Mediterranean coast) where he was buried.

Karada was a board member of the Istanbul branch of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD).

The ÇHD said in a written statement, "His mournful death leaves a great pain in our hearts. He never refrained from the struggle for law, rights and justice. At last, we exclaimed together with him 'Long live a free Palestine, stop the occupation and the blockade'. Our companion, we will never forget you..."

Karadağ had been threatened by Ogün Samast, prime murder suspect of the Dink case, saying "If you come to prison...". Then, Samast took a note on a piece of paper and stored it in his pocket. The judge took the paper from Samast and confirmed that Karadağ's name had been written on it. (EÜ/VK)