On Tuesday the 14th Court of Istanbul on Criminal Cases found Yasin Hayal guilty of plotting and organizing editor-in-chief of Istanbul’s Agos Turkish-Armenian newspaper Hrant Dink’s murder, and sentenced Hayal to life imprisonment, once again confirming that the assassination “was not a conspiracy.”

The verdict of the court has irritated and disappointed relatives and supporters of Hrant Dink who was killed in front of his editorial office building on January 19, 2007. They are sure that the court has deliberately decided not to reveal the real organizers of the murder.

“The son of Hrant, Arat Dink, said they were joking with us before, yet they kept the biggest joke for the end. The court said the murder was not an organized crime. I wasn’t expecting this.

This decision shows the state’s tradition of bothering its own citizens and making them enemies continues,” stated Fethiye Çetin, one of the Dink family lawyers, after the verdict had been published.

The strictest punishment was administered to Hayal who is charged with inducing 17-year-old Ogun Samast, Hrant Dink’s actual murderer to kill him. Last year Samast was sentenced to 22 years of imprisonment.

Another defendant in Dink’s case Erhan Tuncel was found not guilty of prompting Dink’s murder, and, instead, he was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months for an explosion in a McDonald’s restaurant in Istanbul in 2004.

In his defence speech Tuncel, during the 25th session of the five-year long trial, once again stated that the assassination was one of Ergenekon’s “plans” (Ergenekon is an ultranationalist organization allegedly associated with high ranking officials of Turkey’s armed forces and security bodies).

“The court did not take into consideration the issue of Ergenekon’s involvement [in Dink’s assassination]. We are very disappointed that the military servants and law enforcement who stand behind the crime will remain unknown and unpunished,” Sargis Serobian, editor of the Armenian edition of Agos newspaper, told ArmeniaNow.

The verdict will be appealed and on January 19, the day of the fifth anniversary of Dink’s assassination ‘Dink’s Friends’ group will organize a picket in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square.