ISTANBUL
An Istanbul court has issued an arrest warrant for two former police officers in an ongoing negligence probe related to the murder of a Turkish-Armenian journalist in 2007.
Following the appeal by an Istanbul prosecutor regarding the release of two ex-policemen on Dec. 26, 2014 - the same day they were taken into custody - a penal court on Monday has issued an arrest warrant for Ozkan Mumcu and Muhittin Zenit.
Nine officials have been questioned about alleged police inaction prior to the murder of Hrant Dink, a prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist who was killed in 2007. Dink's murderer, Ogun Samast, who was 17 years old at the time, has been tried and convicted.
Other high-profile figures questioned last month include former Istanbul vice governor Ergun Gungor, former Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah and former Istanbul police intelligence unit chief Ahmet Ilhan Guler. Samast himself has also been interrogated.
Dink was the editor-in-chief of the weekly Agos, and was considered to be one of the most prominent Armenian voices in Turkey.
Samast, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2011, said that he had killed Dink for insulting “Turkishness.”
