An inmate in a Turkish prison, who described himself as a former member of JITEM (Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-terror Unit), sent a letter to the prosecutor of  the İstanbul 2nd Juvenile Criminal Court, Muammer Akkaş, claiming that he and several other people had comprehensive information about the planning and the aftermath of the murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. The Armenian journalist was killed by a teenager, Ogün Samast, in front of the office of the paper he directed, Agos weekly, in Istanbul on 16 January 2007.  

The witness, who alleges that they had phone conversations with high-ranking military officers before and after Dink's murder, says that they can provide evidence to their allegations on conditions of protection of their security of life.

In the letter to the same court which tried Dink's murderer Ogün Samast,  the secret witness accuses Erhan Tuncel, another suspect in Dink's murder, of soliciting Samast to the murder. The witness says that they had planned the details of the assasination together with Tuncel.

On 17 January 2012, Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court ruled that there was “no organization” behind Dink\'s murder. Ogün Samast was sentenced to 22 years, 10 months in prison, while Yasin Hayal was given an aggravated life sentence on charges of instigation to premeditated murder. He received three months imprisonment for having threatened author Orhan Pamuk and one additional year in jail on the grounds of possessing an unlicensed weapon.

Osman Hayal was acquitted of charges of homicide and of membership of a criminal organization.

Erhan Tuncel was acquitted of charges of membership of an armed terrorist organization and of instigation to homicide.
The court verdict was strongly criticized by circles asking for fair trial and justice.

In September 2010, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that Turkey had failed to investigate and prosecute those who were responsible for Dink\'s murder and that this constituted a violation of Dink\'s right to life.