YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS: Before the regular session of the criminal case on Hrant Dink’s murder, his friends gathered in front of Chaglayan Court, Armenpress reports citing “Agos”.

Edward Danzikyan delivered a speech on the name of the gathered, reminding that 8 years after the crime an opportunity has been afforded to bring a court case against a number of officials guilty in Dink’s murder. He described this progress in the following words, “The stone has moved from its place.”  “The state does everything possible to prevent people from standing in front of the court. This lawsuit teaches us so many things…” Edward Danzikyan said.

Referring to the circumstance that by the decision of the Justice Ministry of Turkey the ban against bringing a court case against the 9 former officials has been annulled, Danzikyan spoke of the future of Dink’s lawsuit. “Should we look upon this lawsuit with a little of hope, or is “hope” an appropriate word for this lawsuit? This we cannot answer. We only know that the stone has moved from its place after a fight of 8 years. And the stone is very huge, as it is a stone of 99 years – a stone bearing the denial, guilt and sinfulness of entire 99 years. Hence, maybe everything is just beginning.”

After the gathering, the people entered the court building, where the regular court session on Dink’s Murder case was going to start.

As editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, Hrant Dink was a prominent member of the Armenian minority in Turkey. Dink was best known for advocating Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in Turkey; he was often critical of both Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide, and of the Armenian diaspora's campaign for its international recognition. Dink was prosecuted three times fordenigrating Turkishness, while receiving numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists.

Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul in January 2007, by Ogün Samast, a 17-year old Turkish nationalist. This was shortly after the premiere of the genocide documentary Screamers, in which he is interviewed about Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the case against him under Article 301. While Samast has since been taken into custody, photographs of the assassin flanked by smiling Turkish police and gendarmerie, posing with the killer side by side in front of the Turkish flag, have since surfaced. The photos created a scandal in Turkey, prompting a spate of investigations and the removal from office of those involved.

At his funeral, two hundred thousand mourners marched in protest of the assassination, chanting, "We are all Armenians" and, "We are all Hrant Dink". Criticism of Article 301 became increasingly vocal after his death, leading to parliamentary proposals for repeal. The 2007–2008 academic year at the College of Europe was named in his honour.