Dink Lawyer Found Hung in Apartment

One of the co-plaintiff lawyers in the trial of the suspects of Hrant Dink’s assassination in 2007 has been found in his Istanbul apartment in what appeared to be suicide. However, no official report on the cause of his death has yet been released.

Hakan Karadag’s body was taken from his house in Cihangir to the Forensic Council of Medicine for an autopsy. Hitman Ogun Samast had threatedened Karadag in the courtroom in one of the hearings, reports Today’s Zaman.

According to initial wtinesses, a friend of Karadag broke into his house when he got worried after not hearing from him a few days in a row. He found Karadag’s body hanging from othe ceiling. Police studied the scene and the body was taken to the Forensic Council morgue.

Meanwhile, his relatives rushed to the Forensic Council of Medicine building in the afternoon. The grieveng relatives said they could not believe he killed himself. His uncle Habip Karaadg told reporters, “I just saw him yesterday, he did not have any suicidal issues. He said he had a case that he had to attend and left saying ‘hope to see you in the afternoon.’”

Karadag was a co-plaintiff lawyer in the Dink assasination trial. Ogun Samast, the teenager who killed Hrant Dink in broad daylight in January 2007, had said to Karadag in the courtroom, Karadag filed an official complaint with the judge. Samast objected saying he had no intention to threaten him, saying he only told Karadag not to insult him.