Warnings of Dink's assassin of attempted murder were ignored by Turkish police

In a book titled "Red Friday: Who Broke Dink's Pen" Nedim Shener, a correspondent of the Turkish daily Milliyet, makes revelations that may shed more light on the assassination of Hrant Dink, the chief-editor of the Agos weekly.

Shener says in the book that Ogun Samast –who killed Dink in daylight outside his newspaper office in Istanbul on January 19, 2007 – spoke at the police station in Samsun of a planned attempted murder.

Shener says that those allegations were not, however, included in the case.

"After the assassination I wanted to surrender in Istanbul. But then I decided to go to Trabzon and surrender there: I could see my parents one more time," Samast said during an interrogation.

"But I was arrested in Samsun. It was better that I was arrested. Otherwise I would be killed in Giresun."

Earlier, an Istanbul court sustained a request by Samast's lawyer and ruled that Samast must be tried as a minor. This means that any sentence against Samast will be reduced by five years.