Hrant DINK

Impunity continues for the murder of Hrant Dink, author and editor of the Armenian language magazine Agos, killed outside his office in Istanbul on 19 January 2007. In July 2011, Ogün Samast, a 17-year-old at the time of the  murder, was freed on parole in November 2023 after serving 16 years and 10 months of a 22-year and 10 month prison sentence, triggering widespread criticism across Türkiye.   

Following a 2013  Supreme Court of Appeal ruling, in July 2019, the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court concluded that the murder ‘was an organised crime’ and sentenced seven defendants to prison, ranging from 99 years and six months to two years and nine months. In a separate trial involving public officials, 26 out of 77 defendants were given prison terms in March 2021 in relation to the murder; four were sentenced to life in prison, including two without the possibility of parole. Dink’s family appealed against the verdict, arguing that the court did not expose the full conspiracy behind his killing. They requested a retrial from the Constitutional Court of Türkiye in July 2023. The Court had not decided as of December 2025. 

On 10 January 2025, seven people accused in one of the trials for Hrant Dink’s murder – including Ogün Samast – benefited from a statute of limitations and were spared trial. Dink’s family appealed the decision.  Eight intelligence and police officers were retried for ‘premeditated homicide’ and ‘violation of the constitutional order’ and subsequently sentenced to life in prison on 7 February 2025. PEN International continues to call for full justice (see Case Lists 2017-2025). 

Update: In January 2026, the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice found that Hrant Dink’s family lacked the right to appeal the January 2025 ruling that applied the statute of limitations to one of the trials for Dink’s murder. The family said they would appeal to the Court of Cassation.